Bi Xie – Tokoro – Rhizoma Dioscoreae Hypoglaucae

Bi Xie

English Name: tokoro

Pharmaceutical Name: Rhizoma Dioscoreae Hypoglaucae

Medica Category: Water-Regulating and Damp-Resolving Herbs

Properties: Bi Xie enters the Urinary Bladder, Liver, and Stomach channels; it is bitter in nature and neutral in temperature.

What is Bi Xie?:

The Chinese Herb Bi Xie is the dried, sliced tokoro yam rhizome (Dioscorea hypoglauca and other similar tubers such as D. septemloba and D. tokoro). Tokoro is a wild yam that grows in lowland thickets, in ravines, and in bamboo forests throughout China and Japan; and though it is extremely bitter in taste and not generally considered edible, its medicinal qualities have been known of for centuries.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of Bie Xie:

Bi Xie clears dampness and separates the clear from the turbid to treat gao lin (cloudy dysuria) in which the urine being produced can be described as cloudy, turbid, milky, and/or blood-streaked. This herb also helps treat leukorrhea with turbid, white discharge.

Bi Xie dispels wind and dampness to treat bi zheng (painful obstruction syndrome) characterized by pain and stiffness in the joints, low back pain, and pain behind the knees.