Pharmaceutical name: Rhizoma Pinelliae Trenatae
Botanical name: Pinellia trenata
Family: Araceae
Common name: Pinellia rhizome
Properties: pungent, warm, and toxic
Channels entered: Lung, Spleen, Stomach

Originating from China and Japan, known in Asia as "green dragon." Pinellia grows to a height of 6–12 in with glossy arrowhead-shaped leaves that are highlighted by a silver stripe along the veins. It produces purple tongue-like flowers in late summer.

Actions and Indications:
Warm; pungent; attributive to spleen and stomach.
Dries dampness, transforms phlegm, useful for chest complaints, relieves coughs & cuts through mucus, good for sinus congestion and nasal discharge.

Recommended for asthma, emphysema, and any form of wheezing, which makes it valuable as not many herbs are suited to the treatment of these particular ailments. It is more widely used in Oriental medicine than in Western natural therapies, however, and it is often an ingredient of herbal mixtures in both Western and Chinese herbal medicine.
Treatment for dampness of the Spleen, harmonizes the Stomach, and Lung.
Used frequently in conjunction with magnolia bark or perilla leaf
Used in combination with other herbal ingredients for the treatment of nausea and vomiting, considered an antiemetic (nausea suppressant). Can be used with fresh ginger, bamboo shavings, loquat leaf, perilla stem, or amomum fruit. It may also be used with ginseng or jujube.
Recommeneded for the treatment of swollen glands, and certain cases of goiter, used in conjunction with seaweed and fritillary bulb.
Recomended for sinus problems in which there is pain and a feeling of fullness across the sinus area.
Has an antidepressant effect.

It is the primary ingredient in Banxia Houpu decoction, a traditional Chinese formula that has been used for centuries to treat depression.
A recent chemical analysis of this decoction showed that its antidepressant activity is close to that of fluoxetine (Prozac).
A new use is its role as an adjuvant to a nasal vaccine for influenza.

Parts used:
Are the rhizomes, or tubers, dug during late summer, early autumn.
The bark and fibrous roots are removed and the rhizomes should be dried in sunlight.
The raw herbs are toxic and must be prepared by drying them and then frying them in ginger and vinegar to make them usable.
The preparation is called fa ban xia and is available in health food stores.

Cautions & Condraindications: in all cases of bleeding, cough due to yin deficiency, or depleted fluids. Use with caution in all cases with heat. This herb is incompatible with Radix Aconiti (wu tou).
Never use the herb in its raw form or exceed the recommended doses of herbal mixtures containing pinellia.
Pinellia is registered as a toxic herb in the United States and should be used with caution.
Pinellia has been reported to trigger asthmatic attacks in people who have been sensitized to it.

If you have any questions about the safety of any herb used in Chinese medicine, consult with Dr. April L. Schulte-Barclay, DAOM, LAc