Shi Wei – Japanese Felt Fern – Folium Pyrrosiae

Shi Wei

English Name: pyrrosia leaf, Japanese felt fern leaf

Pharmaceutical Name: Folium Pyrrosiae

Medica Category: Water-Regulating and Damp-Resolving Herbs

Properties: Shi Wei enters the Urinary Blabber and Lung channels; it is bitter and sweet in nature and cool in temperature.

What is Shi Wei?:

The Chinese Herb Shi Wei is the dried leaves of pyrrosia (aka Japanese (or Shearer’s) felt fern—Pyrrosia sheareri (Bak) Ching), an evergreen fern with large green leaves that likes to grow on rocky outcrops, stone walls, and trees. It is distributed throughout China, Taiwan, and into the rest of Southeast Asia.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of Shi Wei:

Shi Wei promotes diuresis and clears heat to treat various manifestations of lin zheng (dysuria syndrome); it also regulates water circulation and addresses edema.

Shi Wei enters the Lung channel and clears damp-heat to address cough with profuse yellow sputum.

Shi Wei stops bleeding when used as a single herb and is used commonly to treat epistaxis (bloody nose), hematemesis (vomiting up blood), hypermenorrhea, and bleeding from trauma.