Peucedanum, one of the best TCM herbs for productive cough

What is peucedanum(Qian Hu)?
In fact, peucedanum refers to a genus in the family Apiaceae, in which there are a dozen of flowering species. Medicinally it mainly refers to the dried root of Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn or Peucedanum decursivum Maxim. Other names of this herb include Hog’s Fennel, Radix Peucedani, Peucedanum Root, and so on. In China P. praeruptorum is primarily produced in Zhejiang, Henan, Hunan, and Sichuan and P. decursivum is mostly grown in Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, and Zhejiang. They are usually collected in autumn and winter or early spring when the cauline leaves perish or before the flower stalk appears. After that, remove the fibrous roots and soil, dry in the sun, and then slice. It is normally used raw or baked with honey.

Peucedanum praeruptorum is a perennial herb, 30 to 120 cm in height. Root is conical. Erect stem is single and branched in upper part. Basal and lower leaves are papery, from rounded to broadly ovate, and 5 to 9cm long. Compound umbel is acrogenous or axillary and with 7 to 18 inflorescence stems; white petals are widely oval or nearly circular; stamens are 5 and with ovoid anthers; hairy ovary has 2 very short styles. Cremocarp is oval or ovoid, smooth, and glabrous. Bloom time is from August to October and fruiting time is from October to November.

Peucedanum decursivum is also a perennial herb, 70 to 140cm long. Conical root is from brownish yellow to brown and with strong aroma. Single stem is erect, round, and with edges on surface. Papery basal and lower leaves are triangular-ovate, and 1- or 2-pinnatisect. Acrogenous compound umbel is with unequal 12 to 20 inflorescence stems; purple petals are long ovate. Elliptic mericarp is 4 to 7mm long. Flowering time is from August to September and fruiting season is from September to October.

Peucedanum health benefits
As mentioned previously, peucedanum is one of the best Chinese herbs for productive cough. However, this herb is far from a cure-all solution for all coughing with mucus. To figure out what peucedanum is good for, first let’s take a good look at cough and mucus from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine. Coughing with mucus, as its name implies, is characterized by coughing and phlegm. And other corresponding symptoms are usually accompanied according to the different causes and reactions of the body. The one caused by cold is usually acute and with a shorter duration, mostly accompanied by fever, headache, chills, etc. The one caused by internal injuries is usually without exogenous symptoms, chronic, and often accompanied by organ dysfunction syndromes.

Both Bai Qian (Cynanchum) and peucedanum root are known for their medicinal used on cough producing phlegm due to lung Qi upward reversal, thanks to their healing properties of descending qi and transforming phlegm. Actually they often appear in pair in herbal remedies for coughing up mucus. This is simply because they are so complementary that they can improve the efficacy – cynanchum is of warm nature and with stronger expectorant effect, which is more for cough due to internal injuries and cold phlegm; on the contrary, peucedanum is of slightly cold nature and with ability of dispersing wind-heat, which is ideal for exogenous wind-heat or phlegm-heat cough and Asthma.