Asiatic Plantain Seed Classic Formulas … Natural Herb Library

Primary Actions

Promotes urination and clears Damp-Heat ... Che Qian Zi is a major seed for painful, difficult, cloudy, or scanty urination when dampness and heat lodge in the lower burner.
Clears Liver Heat and brightens the eyes ... it is used for red, painful eyes as well as dim or blurred vision when Heat rises to the visual orifices.
Clears Lung Heat and expels phlegm ... especially for productive cough with thick yellow sputum.
Promotes urination to solidify the stool ... classical use extends to diarrhea when dampness drives excess fluid into the intestines instead of the bladder.

Ba Zheng San ... canonical Damp-Heat urinary formula where Che Qian Zi helps flush heat and turbidity through the bladder.
Shi Wei San ... blood-in-the-urine formula that often includes Che Qian Zi to clear Heat while promoting urination.
Single-herb Che Qian Zi powder with rice water ... a classical simple method for damp-heat diarrhea summarized as promoting urination to stop diarrhea.

Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing places Che Qian Zi among the upper-grade medicinals and anchors the long-standing seed tradition of promoting urination and benefiting the eyes.
Modern TCM teaching accepts both Plantago asiatica and Plantago depressa as legitimate source plants for Semen Plantaginis.