Medicinally Chinese wild ginger mainly refers to the whole dried plant of Asian wild ginger plant, especially Asarum heterotropoides Fr. Schmidt var.mandshuricum (Maxim.) Kitag., Asarum sieboldii Miq. Var. Seoulense Nakai, or Asarum sieboldii Miq. The first two is commonly known as "Liao Xi Xin", produced mainly in the Northeast, while the third as "Hua Xi Xin" produced primarily in provinces of Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong and Zhejiang. The best harvesting time is autumn or the fruit ripening stage in summer. And the following steps are to remove the dirt, dry in the shade, cut into sections, and use it in the raw form.

Here are some Asarum facts you might be interested in. This is a genus in Aristolochiaceae. It is native to Asia, in particular, Vietnam, Japan, and China. But now is can be discovered also in North America and Europe. The plants in Asarum are characterized by slightly red or brown flowers, creeping underground roots, and kidney-shaped leaves. However, all of this doesn't explain why it is known as "wild ginger". Actually, this name comes from its ginger-like smell and taste, instead of from being related. Because of that, it is often put in food to give flavor, just like ginger root.

Wild Ginger Plant

WILD GINGER HEALTH BENEFITS
As mentioned above, it refers to a few species in birthwort family. Clinically it is commonly used as diuretic and a drug for relieving exterior disorder. Its Chinese name can be literally translated as "small pungent" since it has small root and strong aroma, and pungent taste. It will definitely leave you a lifetime impression if you ever experience its hot and scurrying flavor. It is such a good medicine that can expel wind-cold externally while getting rid of the stagnation of yin-cold internally. Meanwhile, it can relieve pain and prevent cough. Though it is with good cold-expelling property, it is not generally used as the main drug in normal superficies-relieving formulas since it has a weak sweating function.

Up to now it has more than 2,000 years of history of using as medicine. And the earliest extant record is from the "Sheng Nong's herbal classic". However, it is the "The Shang Han Lun" (On Cold Damage) that later found and achieved its full potential to treat wind-cold exterior pattern, all kinds of pain, various blocked orifices, cough and asthma due to pulmonary cold, and the like. Today, its therapeutic range has been greatly extended and it is widely used in the treatment of recurrent oral ulcers, Impotence, aphasia caused by stroke, bradycardia, Epilepsy, Meniere's Disease, anejaculation, testicular pain, female infertility, urticaria, and more. In addition, it is often used for dental anesthesia too.

Asarum, Cinnamon Twig (Gui Zhi), and Ephedra (Ma Huang) are the 3 main herbs used for cold due to wind-cold since they relieve superficies syndrome with their pungent and warm nature. However, ephedra prefers severe wind-cold cold since it is with a stronger ability of sweating; cinnamon twig has such a more moderate sweating and superficies-relieving action that it can be used in all wind-cold, in particular the exterior deficiency accompanied with sweating; Asarum has a stronger cold-dispelling effect although it does a bad job on sweating.