Bergenia, Yan Bai Cai 岩白菜

Yan Bai Cai (TCM)
Ga dur mchog  ག་དུར་མཆོག་ (B. stracheyi, Tibetan Medicine)
Picture Bergenia purpurascens
The garden. An illustrated weekly journal of horticulture in all its branches [ed. William Robinson], vol. 20 (1881)

 Picture Bergenia stracheyi
Curtis, W., Botanical Magazine (1872)
Picture Bergenia root Yan Bai Cai
(Chengdu Medicine Market, Adam, 2017)

Botanical name:


Bergenia purpurascens (syn. B. delavayi, Saxifraga purpurascens, S. delavayi)
B. stracheyi (Ga dur mchog ག་དུར་མཆོག་) of Tibetan Medicine appears to be used similarly.

Parts used:


Root; sometimes the whole herb
Fresh herb is used fresh externally

Temperature & Taste:


Cool, dry. Sweet, astringent

Uses:


1. Nourishes Blood, Settles Wind:
-benefits Liver Blood and yin
-Dizziness from deficiency
-Deafness
-Liver Heat and hot nerve disorders (Tibet)

2. Benefits the Lungs, Clears Phlegm, Stops Cough
-Cough, chest pain, shortness of Breath
-Cough, Asthma from deficiency
-Lung heat conditions in Tibet

3. Moves the Blood, Stops Bleeding:
-Coughing or Spitting Blood
-used for Internal Injury

4. Benefits Qi, Clears Damp:
-digestive weakness with fatigue
-Diarrhea (Tibet)
-Strangury
-Leukorrhea

5. Clears Heat, Resists Poison:
-Cold, Flu, Epidemic diseases (Tibet)
-Toxic swellings
-topically for toxic sores and swellings


Dose:


Decoction: 6–12 grams
A suitable amount of the fresh leaf can be applied topically to toxic sores and swellings.

Comment:


B. stracheyi is used in Tibetan Medicine and is classed as Cool and dry. Used for Cold, Epidemic diseases, hot disorders, Lung heat, Liver Heat, Hot nerve disorders, Diarrhea, swelling of the limbs, etc. (Norbu). It is therefore very similar in use.

Main Combinations:


1. Cough from deficiency, Bergenia with Licorice, Rhodiola
2. Toxic Swellings, Bergenia with Swertia, Tinospora

Cautions:


Those with Fever from weakness should not use it.

Main Preparations used: