According to the Pharmacopoeia

This product is the dried root of Platycodon, grandiflorum (Jacq.) A.DC., family Platycodonaceae. It is harvested in spring and fall, washed, removed the fibrous roots, peeled off the outer skin while fresh or without peeling, and dried.

The product is cylindrical or slightly fusiform, the lower part is tapering, some have branches, slightly twisted, 7-20cm long, 0.7-2cm in diameter, the surface is yellowish white to yellow, the surface of those who don’t remove the outer skin is yellowish brown to grayish brown with longitudinal twisted wrinkles and long transverse lenticels and branching root scars, and there is a transverse stripe on the upper part. Some have shorter or inconspicuous apical rhizomes with several semilunar stem scars. The texture is brittle, the section is not flat, the formation layer ring brown, the skin is yellowish white with fissures, the wood is light yellow. The flavor is slightly sweet and bitter.

Bitter, pungent, flat. Attributed to the lung meridian.

Functions and Indications] Promoting the lung, inducing diaphoresis, expelling phlegm and draining pus. Used for coughing and phlegm, chest tightness, sore throat, hoarseness, lung carbuncle pus.

Usage and dosage] 3-10g.

Storage] Keep in a dry and ventilated place to prevent moths.

Efficacy and effect

1. Dispelling phlegm and pus

This product is good at facilitating lung qi, broadening the chest and quickening the diaphragm, promoting the discharge of pus and phlegm in the lungs, and is a good product for expelling phlegm and pus to treat carbuncle of the lungs. For the treatment of lung carbuncle with chest pain and fever, coughing and vomiting pus and blood, with yellow and smelly phlegm, it is used with licorice, i.e. Platycodon grandiflorum soup; or it is used with fishweed, Coix lacryma, and rehmannia glutinosa.

2、Expanding lung qi

This product is pungent, dispersing, bitter and excreting, calm in nature, good upward movement, specializing in the lung meridian, for the lung meridian qi points of the key medicines. It is good at opening and promoting lung qi, resolving phlegm and broadening the chest and treating cough and phlegm, and can be applied regardless of external and internal injuries or cold or heat.

3、Opening the chest and dispersing knots

Platycodon grandiflorum is not a qi medicine, but it is often applied in chest paralysis caused by qi stagnation, blood stasis and phlegm obstruction. For example, “Reform and Error in Medical Sciences”, Blood Palace and Blood Stasis Soup is a special formula for treating blood stasis in the chest. Its use of Platycodon grandiflorus with Hovenia dulcis a rise and a fall, open the chest to move gas, “gas line is blood line,” gas is conducive to the elimination of blood stasis, and the formula of all the blood stasis medicines to play a synergistic role. Modern pharmacological research found that Platycodon grandiflorum “can reduce the resistance of coronary artery and increase blood flow”, which provides strong evidence for the treatment of thoracic paralysis with Platycodon grandiflorum.

4, Facilitating pharynx and opening sound

This product is good at promoting the lung to benefit the pharynx to open the voice, wherever the external evils against the lungs of sore throat and loss of voice, can be applied. Such as the treatment of wind-heat against the lungs, sore throat and loss of voice.

5. Smoothing the bowels

Lung and large intestine are mutually exclusive, lung qi depression and closure of the large intestine can not bear the lung qi downstream, resulting in constipation. When the lung qi is smooth, it can indirectly dredge the intestines and stomach, and transmit down to the bladder, thus it also has good effect on intestinal diseases and unfavorable urination.

6. Carrying medicine upward

Platycodon grandiflorum can promote lung qi, has the effect of leading medicine upward into the lungs, and has the effect of lifting up lung qi, which can make the pathological water and dampness go from the spleen to the lungs and return to the normal way. In “Harmonious Dosage Bureau Formulas”, Ginseng Ling and Atractylodis Macrocephalae was used to treat spleen deficiency and dampness, while benefiting qi and strengthening spleen, seeping dampness and stopping diarrhea, Platycodon grandiflorus can promote lung qi in order to regulate the water channel, and also carries medicines upward to benefit the lung qi.

How to consume Platycodon grandiflorum

Platycodonopsis Tea

Ingredients: Platycodon grandiflorus, honey.

Practice: After washing into the tea cup, into the boiling water, covered with a lid smothered for 5-10 minutes, and so warmed up after adding honey, stir well, drink a dose a day.

Efficacy: can benefit the pharynx phlegm, treatment of dry itchy throat discomfort, chronic pharyngitis, dry cough and so on.

Platycodonopsis Porridge

Ingredients: Platycodonopsis, rice.

Practice: wash the platycodon, add the right amount of water to decoct the juice, decoct the juice into the pot, pour into the cleaned rice, porridge can be cooked. One dose per day.

Efficacy: moisturize the lungs and relieve cough, dry cough without phlegm, lung fever cough can often eat.

Platycodonopsis Soup

Platycodonopsis 10 grams, licorice 6 grams. The two are clean, put into the pot, add the right amount of water, soak 5 to 10 minutes, decoction, 1 dose per day.

This soup can clear away heat and resolve phlegm, and is suitable for lung carbuncle.

Contraindications of Platycodon grandiflorus

Pregnant women should not drink Platycodon grandiflorum in water.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal properties of Platycodon grandiflorum are cold, so it can promote the lungs and dispel phlegm, which is effective for various respiratory diseases. However, women who are pregnant should not take it.

Do not take Platycodonopsis during menstruation

We all know that Platycodon grandiflorus is cold in nature, and we should pay more attention to it when taking it. The original female body is inclined to yin, if you take a lot of Platycodon grandiflorum during menstruation, it is easy to cause the body to have irregular menstruation or blockage, and in severe cases, menstrual cramps, etc., which will cause great trouble to the body.

Platycodonopsis cannot be taken for a long time

Platycodonopsis belongs to a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, so it is the best choice for the body to take the right medicine in daily life. Although it can be used as a medicine and even as a vegetable, it should not be taken for a long time and in large quantities. Cold herbs in large quantities or long-term use will appear abdominal pain and diarrhea, and may even make the body’s metabolism abnormal, so usually take must be more careful.

Conclusion: The role of Platycodon grandiflorum is very much, daily life Platycodon grandiflorum consumption method is also a lot of. But we should pay attention to is, after all, still belongs to a kind of Chinese medicine, in the process of daily consumption can not be a large number of long-term consumption, in the female menstruation period and pregnancy is not suitable for consumption, to avoid causing bodily harm.