Rhizome of Airpotato Yam

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Resolves phlegm and dissipates nodules ... Huang Yao Zi is classically used for goiter, scrofula, and hard masses with a phlegm-fire or toxic-swelling character.
• Clears heat and resolves toxicity ... traditional use extends to sore throat, ulcerative swelling, and toxic lesions where hardness and inflammation coexist.
• Relieves cough and wheezing when phlegm-heat binds the Lung ... the herb is used more for knotty obstructive patterns than for simple everyday cough.

Secondary Actions

• Huang Yao Zi sits in the transform-phlegm-and-nodule family, but its toxicity keeps it from being treated like an ordinary cooling food herb despite the yam lineage.
• This page should remain on the medicinal air-potato tuber tradition rather than drift into edible-yam or generic Dioscorea nutrition claims.

Classic Formulas

• Goiter and scrofula combinations with Hai Zao, Kun Bu, or Xia Ku Cao ... classic strategy when hard phlegm masses dominate.
• Toxic-swelling and throat formulas ... Huang Yao Zi appears when phlegm, heat, and hardness converge in the neck or throat.
• Cancer-oriented folk and later integrative traditions ... these help explain the herb's modern notoriety but do not erase the need for toxicology caution.

Classical References

• Traditional herbology describes Huang Yao Zi as bitter, cold, and toxic, entering the Liver and Lung to resolve phlegm, soften hard masses, and clear heat toxin.
• Its classic identity revolves around nodules and goiter rather than around tonification, even though the source plant belongs to the broader yam family.