Asparagus cochinchinensis (天门冬)-Herb for Nourishing Lung

Latin Name: Radix Asparagi
Botanical name: Asparagus cochinchinensis
Pharmaceutical Name: Radix or Tuber Asparagi Cochinchinenses

Characteristics：
Root， tuber long-cambiform, slightly curved, 5-18 cm long. 009.jpg (8008 bytes)Surface with bark removed appearing yellow-white to yellow-brown, semi-opaque, slightly longitudinally wrinkled. Fracture surface showing a narrow stele and a broad cortex. Soft and sticky in texture. Sweet and bitter in taste, cold in nature, and attributive to lung and kidney channels.

Indication：
Nourish yin, clear away heat, moisturize the lung and benefit the kidney: For yin-deficiency with lung dryness manifested as dry cough, hemoptysis, dry throat and thirst; diabetes with consumption of body fluid; yin-deficiency with hectic fever, night sweat, nocturnal emission, flaccidity of lower limbs; constipation due to dryness of intestine. Recently, used for chronic pharyngolaryngitis, whooping cough, mammary hyperplasia, breast cancer, malignant lymphoma, etc.

Administration：
Decoction: 5-15g. 30g of herb stewed with wine three times daily for breast diseases.