https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/A4PeQB2Vq1CW8xtc-5KQOA
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307. Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus (Chuan Bei Mu)
It has almost no flavor, with a texture similar to lotus seed but a bit more bitter.
It doesn’t really moisten the lungs. Right after taking it sublingually, you immediately feel your lungs being wrapped. As it slowly dissolves in the mouth, the root of the tongue and throat gradually feel numb. This effect likely comes from peimine (Chuan Bei alkaloid); its cough-suppressing function may also be related to this. Peimine has a relaxing effect on bronchial smooth muscle, can reduce phlegm secretion, and also has a central nervous system antitussive effect.
Confirmed effects: cough suppression, phlegm resolution, but it seems to treat symptoms rather than root causes.
379. Raw Licorice (Sheng Gan Cao)
It is obvious that cultivated licorice is sweeter than wild, which tastes more bitter with an unpleasant aftertaste somewhat like loquat leaves.
Licorice’s effects are similar to Astragalus (Huang Qi), serving as a supportive role. Astragalus provides “one-time use qi,” while licorice provides adhesion, meaning the energy of “harmonizing,” which can knead scattered energy into a whole. It can be combined with various herbs, such as Ephedra (Ma Huang), Cinnamon Twig (Gui Zhi), Atractylodes (Bai Zhu), Aconite (Fu Zi), etc., to harmonize qi in different areas.
Confirmed effect: adhesion. Cultivated varieties, when well nurtured, have a better harmonizing effect; wild varieties, exposed to wind and rain and accumulating more stress resistance substances like glycyrrhizic acid, have specialized effects such as clearing heat and detoxifying, resolving phlegm, and cough suppression associated with “clearing and resolving.”