Usnea, also known as female lichen, parasitic on pine trees, Taoist beard, or pine moss, is mentioned in the "Shennong's Materia Medica". It refers to the dried filamentous body of Usnea longissina Ach. or U. diffracta Vain, both belonging to the family Usneaceae. It is harvested and dried in the summer and autumn.
[Processing Method] Take the original medicinal material, remove impurities, wash, cut into sections, dry, and sieve to remove ash debris.
[Appearance of the prepared slices] Usnea longissina appears as tangled filaments, with a coarse and loose gray-green surface. The cut surface is dense in the center, with a distinctive odor, and chewy with a sour taste. Usnea diffracta has obvious ring-like cracks on the surface.
[Processing Effects] Usnea has a sweet and bitter taste, and is neutral in nature. It enters the heart, kidney, and lung meridians. It has the functions of eliminating phlegm and relieving cough, clearing heat and detoxification, removing dampness and promoting meridian circulation, stopping bleeding and regulating menstruation, and expelling parasites. It is mostly used in the treatment of phlegm-heat type malaria, cough and asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, headache, red eyes and cloudiness, abscesses and sores, scrofula, breast abscess, burns, snake bites, rheumatism, trauma, fractures, external bleeding, hemoptysis, hematochezia, menorrhagia, irregular menstruation, leukorrhea, ascariasis, and schistosomiasis. For example, the Usnea decoction for phlegm stagnation and heat in the chest (from "Emergency Prescription for a Thousand Gold Pieces"); Usnea powder for treating malaria in children (from "Taiping Holy Prescriptions"); Usnea powder for treating typhoid fever, persistent fever, and headache (from "Taiping Holy Prescriptions"); Usnea tincture with Fritillaria cirrhosa for oral administration can treat chronic bronchitis (from "Liaoning Handbook of Common Chinese Medicinal Herbs"); Usnea decoction with Caulis Sinomenii, Luffa aegyptiaca, Achyranthes bidentata, Herba Artemisiae Qinjiao, and Mulberry Twig can treat rheumatism and joint pain (from "Hubei Chinese Medicinal Herbs Chronicle"). Purification and processing make the medicine pure, facilitating the dissolution of active ingredients and facilitating formulation and preparation.
