Dry cough, hacking cough treated with TCM fritillaria bulbs

What are fritillaria bulbs(Chuan Bei Mu)? Actually in TCM practice there are total 5 different fritillaria species, among which bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae (Chuan Bei Mu) and Thunberg Fritillary Bulb (Zhe Bei Mu) are the most used two. However, generally the former is believed to be the best.

Its formal name is tendrilleaf fritillary bulb or Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae in Latin. The plant is a member of Liliaceae family. Looked from the TCM’s angle, medicinal fritillaria refers to the dry bulbs of Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don, Fritillaria unibracteata Hsiao et K. C. Hsia, Fritillaria przewalskii Maxim., and Fritillaria delavayi Franch.

ccording to different medicinal properties, they can be classified as "Song Bei", "Qing Bei", "Lu Bei", and cultivated products. The medicinal fritillaria bulb is usually harvested in summer and autumn or when the snow is melting. After the harvest, it needs to remove the fibrous roots, bark, and sand before drying them in the sun or low temperature drying.

What is fritillaria used for?
In the sight of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), this herb is bitter, sweet, and slightly cold in nature. It goes to two meridians, including lung and heart. Its chief functions are to eliminate phlegm by cooling, moisten lung to arrest cough, and remove stasis to reduce swelling. Its main indications and uses are irritating dry cough caused by lung heat, hacking cough with little phlegm, cough due to overexertion and Yin deficiency, dry coughing and sputum with blood, stagnation in chest and heart, the consumptive lung disease, Pulmonary Abscess, Chronic Pharyngitis, and Acute Mastitis. Usual dosage is from 3 to 10 grams in decoction, or 1 to 2 grams in powder.