What are the effects and functions of Fritillaria cirrhosa?

Fritillaria cirrhosa, also known as Beimu, Chuanbei, Minbei, etc., is the dried bulb of the Liliaceae plants Fritillaria cirrhosa, Fritillaria unibracteata, Fritillaria przewalskii, Fritillaria delavayi, Fritillaria taipaiensis, or Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabuensis. It has the effects of clearing heat and moistening the lungs, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, and dissipating nodules and eliminating abscesses. It has therapeutic effects on cough due to lung heat and dryness, dry cough with little phlegm, chronic cough due to yin deficiency, blood-streaked phlegm, scrofula, breast abscess, lung abscess, etc. Now let us take a look at the effects and functions of Fritillaria cirrhosa!

Medicinal Value of Fritillaria cirrhosa

[Nature and Flavor] Bitter and sweet in flavor, slightly cold in nature.

[Meridian Entry] Lung and Heart meridians.

[Effects] Clearing heat and moistening the lungs, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, dissipating nodules and eliminating abscesses. Mainly treats cough due to lung heat and dryness, dry cough with little phlegm, chronic cough due to yin deficiency, blood-streaked phlegm, scrofula, breast abscess, and lung abscess.

Medicinal Effects of Fritillaria cirrhosa

1. Dissipating nodules and eliminating abscesses: Beimu has the effect of dissipating nodules and eliminating abscesses. Both Chuanbei and Zhebei have the effects of clearing heat and resolving phlegm, dissipating nodules and eliminating abscesses. They can be used to treat scrofula mostly caused by phlegm-fire stagnation, sores and breast abscess caused by heat-toxin accumulation, as well as lung abscess with coughing up pus and blood, and chest tightness and cough, with very good efficacy.

2. Clearing the lungs and resolving phlegm: Fritillaria cirrhosa is cold in nature and bitter in flavor, with the function of clearing the lungs and resolving phlegm. It can be used to treat internal injury chronic cough, dry cough, and cough with dry phlegm and hot phlegm, with quite good results. Fritillaria thunbergii is bitter in flavor and has the effects of clearing and resolving hot phlegm and descending lung qi. It is mostly used to treat cough due to exogenous wind-heat and cough caused by phlegm-heat stagnating in the lungs.

3. Detoxifying and reducing swelling: Tubeimu is the dried tuber of the Cucurbitaceae plant Bolbostemma paniculatum. It is bitter in nature and flavor and has the effects of detoxifying, dissipating nodules, and reducing swelling. It can be applied to treat breast abscess, scrofula, phlegm nodes, etc., with very good efficacy.

Pharmacological Effects of Fritillaria cirrhosa

1. Antitussive effect: The total alkaloids and non-alkaloid fractions of Fritillaria cirrhosa, administered orally at 0.25-0.5 mg per mouse, both have obvious antitussive effects.

2. Expectorant effect: Experimental studies show that cultivated, wild, and tissue-cultured Chuanbei all have obvious expectorant effects.

3. Blood pressure-lowering effect: Intravenous injection of 4.2 mg/kg of Chuanbei alkaloid into cats can produce a sustained decrease in blood pressure, accompanied by brief respiratory inhibition. Xibeimu alkaloid also has a blood pressure-lowering effect on anesthetized dogs.

4. Antibacterial effect: At a concentration of 2 mg/L, Fritillaria cirrhosa can inhibit the growth and reproduction of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The alkaline water infusion (1:25) has an inhibitory effect on Nocardia asteroides in test tubes.

5. Antispasmodic effect: Xibeimu alkaloid has an obvious relaxing effect on isolated guinea pig intestinal segments, rabbit duodenum, and in vivo dog small intestine. Its antispasmodic effect is similar to papaverine.

Medicinal Prescriptions of Fritillaria cirrhosa

1. To treat lung abscess and lung atrophy: Chuanbei 1 liang, Tianzhuhuang and Pengsha 1 qian each, Wenge 5 fen (stir-fried with vinegar). Grind into powder, brush loquat leaves clean and honey-fry them, boil into a paste and make pills the size of Gorgon fruit, chew and swallow.

2. To treat cough due to lung heat with much phlegm and dryness in the throat: Beimu (remove the heart) and almond (soaked in water, peeled, tipped, and stir-fried) 1.5 liang each. Grind the above two ingredients into powder, refine with honey into pills the size of bullets, hold in the mouth to dissolve and swallow the saliva.

3. To treat whooping cough: Bungarus parvus 5 g, Beimu 10 g, raw licorice 10 g. Crush the above three ingredients, sift, and mix evenly. Take orally 1.5-3 g each time, 3 times a day.

4. To treat vomiting blood and nosebleed, whether occurring or stopping, all caused by accumulated heat in the heart meridian: Beimu (processed until yellow) 1 liang. Grind finely and sieve into powder, take 2 qian mixed with warm thin gruel at any time.

5. To treat lung abscess with vomiting of pus, five-center heat, stuffiness, and cough: Beimu (remove the heart), Aster, and Platycodon (stir-fried) 1 liang each, licorice (honey-fried and chopped) half a liang. Grind and sift the above, take 3 qian each time, decoct in 1 cup of water for five to seven boils, remove the dregs, and take slightly cool at any time.

6. To treat scrofula and syphilitic bubo: Beimu and Gleditsia sinensis seeds 8 liang each. Grind into fine powder, chop 8 liang of Gleditsia sinensis, rub and knead in strong water, filter to make a paste, mix with the medicinal powder, and make pills the size of Chinese parasol seeds. Take 50 to 70 pills each time, taken with wine in the morning.

7. To treat throat obstruction and swelling: Beimu, Shan Dou Gen, Platycodon, licorice, Schizonepeta, and mint, decoct in water and take.

8. To treat the initial onset of breast abscess: Grind Beimu into powder, take 2 qian each time, mix with warm wine and take, then press both hands on the table and let the breast hang for a long time, after which it will become unobstructed.

9. To treat oral thrush in children, with the whole mouth white and ulcerated: Remove the heart from Beimu and grind into powder, take 5 fen, water 5 fen, a little honey, decoct for three boils, clean and apply, four to five times a day.

Medicinal Contraindications of Fritillaria cirrhosa

1. "Bencao Jing Jizhu": Antagonizes peach blossom. Fears Qinjiao, alum stone, and Illicium religiosum. Incompatible with aconite.

2. "Bencao Jingshu": Contraindicated for cough due to cold-damp phlegm and food accumulation with phlegm-fire, damp phlegm in the stomach with nausea and desire to vomit, phlegm-fluid causing chills and fever, damp phlegm in the spleen and stomach causing dizziness and phlegm syncope headache, vomiting due to noxious factors, and diarrhea due to stomach cold.