Blackberrylily Rhizome

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Clears heat toxin and benefits the throat - one of the classic herbs for swollen painful throat, hoarseness, and pharyngeal obstruction from toxic heat or phlegm-heat lodged in the throat.
• Clears Lung heat, transforms phlegm, and directs Lung Qi downward - used for cough, wheezing, noisy breathing, and thick sputum when phlegm-heat obstructs the Lung and throat.
• Disperses nodules and toxic swellings - extended to scrofula, abscesses, and hot swollen lesions when toxin, phlegm, and local stagnation combine.
• Can treat both hot and cold-phlegm wheezing when paired appropriately - although naturally cold, classical formulas also use it with warming herbs to open phlegm obstruction in cold-type asthma.

Secondary Actions

• She Gan remains the classical pharmacognostic name even though the source plant is often treated botanically as Iris domestica rather than Belamcanda chinensis in newer taxonomic systems.
• Its strongest traditional reputation is throat-focused, making it a go-to medicinal for acute toxic heat in the pharynx rather than a broad general tonic.

Classic Formulas

• She Gan Ma Huang Tang (射干麻黄汤) - from Jin Gui Yao Lue, using She Gan with Ma Huang, Ban Xia, Xi Xin, and Zi Wan for cough and wheezing with phlegm obstructing the throat.
• She Gan Tang (射干汤) - single-herb and modified throat formulas recorded in later literature for severe swollen painful throat due to heat toxin.
• She Gan Xiao Du Yin (射干消毒饮) - used for wind-heat or toxic throat swelling with hoarseness, pain, and redness, highlighting She Gan's detoxifying and throat-opening role.

Classical References

• Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing records She Gan for throat obstruction and painful throat, establishing its long classical identity as a key pharyngeal medicinal.
• TCM Wiki and Me and Qi both describe She Gan as bitter and cold, entering the Lung channel and classically used to clear toxic heat, dispel phlegm, and relieve sore throat.
• Traditional cautions consistently note that She Gan is contraindicated in pregnancy and should be used carefully in weak patients with loose stools.