She Chuang Zi – Cnidium Seed – Fructus Cnidii

She Chuan Zi

English Name: cnidium fruit

Pharmaceutical Name: Fructus Cnidii

Medica Category: Substances for Topical Application

Properties: She Chuang Zi enters the Kidney channel; it is acrid and bitter in nature and warm in temperature.

What is She Chuang Zi?:

The Chinese Herb She Chuang Zi is the dried, mature fruit of the annual herb Cnidium monnieri (aka Monnier’s snowparsley). In China it is found mainly in Hebei, Shandong and Zhejiang provinces growing in field margins and along roadsides and ditches. Umbels of white flowers appear in the late spring, followed by the fruits which have a long tradition of medicinal use for genital itching and treating impotence. The fruits are harvested when ripe; they are then dried and either mixed with water or oil to make a wash for topical use or decocted/ground into powder or pill form for internal use.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of She Chuang Zi:

She Chuang Zi dries dampness, kills parasites, and dispels wind and is used topically to address weeping lesions (w/itching), especially around the genital area. Other conditions addressed by this herb are eczema, scabies, tinea, ringworm, and trichomoniasis.

Being warm in nature it is best applied to dermatological conditions with wind-cold at the root of the problem, although She Chuang Zi can be combined with other damp dispelling and heat-clearing herbs to address conditions with damp-heat in the etiology.

She Chuang Zi disperses cold and dispels wind to address various forms of turbid, white vaginal discharge rooted in deficiency of the Spleen, Kidney, ren (conception), and chong (thoroughfare) channels.

She Chuang Zi warms the Kidney and tonifies yang to address impotence and infertility in men and women.

–safety/clinical notes:

Contraindicated for Kidney yin deficiency with heat signs.

Contraindicated for excess heat or damp heat in the lower jiao.