As a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, the efficacy and functions of Nü Wan are numerous. Let's explore the efficacy and functions of Nü Wan as well as its main uses.
Nü Wan picture
【Appearance】 Nü Wan is a perennial herbaceous plant, growing 30 to 100 centimeters tall. The stem is upright, smooth in the lower half and covered with fine hairs in the upper half. The leaves are opposite, lanceolate or oblong in shape, measuring 5 to 12 centimeters long and 5 to 12 millimeters wide. The tips are gradually sharp, the bases are narrow, and they have short stalks. The edges are rough with sparse small serrations, and they fall off after flowering. The upper stem leaves are sessile, lanceolate to linear, smooth on the upper surface, green, and covered with fine soft hairs on the lower surface. The edges are rough. The inflorescence is dense and umbel-like, with small flowers measuring 5 to 8 millimeters in diameter. The involucral tube is about 4 millimeters long, with lanceolate bracts and fine hairs, arranged in several rows. The peripheral ligulate flowers are white, about 2.5 millimeters long, and the tube is about 2 millimeters long. The central tubular flowers are yellow, about 3.5 millimeters long, with blunt and entire anther bases. The stigma is 2-lobed, with oblong lobes and blunt tips. The achene is oblong, about 1 millimeter long, slightly flattened, and covered with hairs. The corolla hairs are gray-white or reddish. The flowering period is in autumn.
【Main Uses】 Nü Wan has the functions of warming the lungs, resolving phlegm, promoting digestion, and diuresis. It is used to treat cough, asthma, intestinal rumbling, diarrhea, and short and difficult urination.
① "Compendium of Materia Medica": "It treats wind-cold diarrhea, dysentery, unpredictable intestinal rumbling, epilepsy, and various cold and heat diseases."
② "Miscellaneous Records": "It treats lung damage causing coughing, sweating, long-standing cold in the bladder, fullness in the chest, and the onset of symptoms after drinking alcohol and eating at night."
③ "Hunan Pharmacopoeia": "It warms the lungs, dispels qi, stops cough, resolves phlegm, and promotes diuresis."
【Efficacy and Functions of Nü Wan】
Nü Wan has the functions of warming the lungs, resolving phlegm, promoting digestion, and promoting diuresis. It is used to treat cough, asthma, intestinal rumbling, diarrhea, and short and difficult urination.
1. "Compendium of Materia Medica": "It treats wind-cold diarrhea, dysentery, unpredictable intestinal rumbling, epilepsy, and various cold and heat diseases."
Nü Wan picture
2. "Miscellaneous Records": "It treats lung damage causing coughing, sweating, long-standing cold in the bladder, fullness in the chest, and the onset of symptoms after drinking alcohol and eating at night."
3. "Hunan Pharmacopoeia": "It warms the lungs, dispels qi, stops cough, resolves phlegm, and promotes diuresis."
【Application of Nü Wan in Prescriptions】
1. Treatment for cough and asthma: Nü Wan 15g, Jin Xian Diao Bai Mi 9g, Lu Bian Jing 15g. Decoction and take orally.
2. Treatment for intestinal rumbling and diarrhea: Nü Wan 15g, Chen Pi 6g, Chang Pu 6g. Decoction and take orally.
3. Treatment for short and difficult urination: Nü Wan and Che Qian Cao, each 15g. Decoction and take orally. (Prescriptions 1-3 are from "Hunan Pharmacopoeia")
4. Treatment for urinary stones: Nü Wan 1 liang. Grind and sieve. Take two qian bi with a cup of water, decoct for seven minutes, and take warm, regardless of time. ("The Complete Collection of Holy Benevolence")
