She Gan – Blackberry Lily Rhizome – Rhizoma Belamcandae

She Gan

English Name: belamcanda, blackberry lily rhizome

Pharmaceutical Name: Rhizoma Belamcandae

Medica Category: Heat-Clearing and Toxin-Eliminating Herbs

Properties: She Gan enters the Lung channel; it is bitter in nature and cold in temperature.

What is She Gan?:

The Chinese Herb She Gan is the dried rhizome of the blackberry lily (Belamcanda chinensis). This plant’s native range goes from the Himalayas across China to the Russian Far East, although it now cultivated worldwide as an ornamental. The sword-shaped leaves grow in clumps, and it the rhizomes that connect these clumps of leaves that are harvested for use as medicine (after the have been sliced and dried).

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of She Gan:

She Gan clears Lung heat and strongly disperses phlegm-stagnation to address various clinical presentations such as sore, swollen throat (with pain upon swallowing), often coupled with profuse phlegm production and/or trouble breathing (dypsnea).