Lily bulb (Baihe)-Lilium brownii

Lily bulb (Baihe)

Pharmaceutical Name: Bulbus Lilii

Botanical Name: 1. Liliumbrownii var. viridulum Baker; 2. Lilium pumilum DC.; 3. Lilium lancifolium Thunb.

Common Name: Lily bulb

Source of Earliest Record: Shennong Bencao Jing

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations: The bulbs are gathered in autumn. After they are cleaned, the bulbs are washed in boiled water or steamed, then dried in the sun or baked.

Properties & Taste: Sweet and slightly cold.

Meridians: Lung and heart

Functions: 1. To moisten the lungs and stop cough; 2. To clear heat in the heart and calm the mind

Indications & Combinations:

1. Deficient yin of the lung with excessive fire manifested as cough and hemoptysis. Lily bulb (Baihe) is used with Scrophularia (Xuanshen), Tendrilled fritillary bulb (Chuanbeimu) and Fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang) in the formula Baihe Gujin Tang.

2. The later stage of febrile diseases with residual heat manifested as irritability, palpitations, insomnia and dreamful sleep. Lily bulb (Baihe) is used with Anemarrhena rhizome (Zhimu) and Fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang) in the formula Baihe Dihuang Tang.

Dosage: 10-30 g

Cautions & Contraindications: This herb is contraindicated in cases of cough due to invasion by wind-cold or diarrhea due to cold in the spleen and stomach.

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