Blackberry lily

A hot, swollen, painful throat where swallowing hurts and phlegm sticks, with a red tongue and rapid pulse

Wheezing with an audible rattle of phlegm in the throat and chest, in a patient who is cold, where a small amount is combined with ma huang, xi xin, zi wan and kuan dong hua

Hoarseness and throat pain in a singer or teacher with sticky yellow phlegm and heat

Overview. She gan is the dried rhizome of the blackberry lily, an ornamental iris with fan-like leaves, orange spotted flowers and glossy black seed clusters, native to China, Japan, Korea, the Himalaya and Indochina and cultivated in gardens worldwide. The knotted yellow rhizome is dug in spring or autumn, cleaned of roots and dried. It is one of the principal throat herbs of Chinese medicine, cold and bitter, breaking up heat, toxin and phlegm in the Lung and throat, and its classical names such as open-throat arrow describe its use.

Clinical Notes. Reach for she gan when the throat is red, swollen and painful and there is phlegm behind it. It combines with huang qin, jie geng, gan cao and niu bang zi for acute tonsillitis and pharyngitis, with xuan shen and ma bo for throat abscess, and with ban lan gen and jin yin hua for febrile sore throat.

Chinese Medicine Profile. Temperature: cold. Taste: bitter. Channels: Lung. Actions: Clears heat and resolves fire toxin; Dissolves phlegm and disperses accumulation; Benefits the throat and relieves pain and swelling; Descends Lung qi and calms wheezing with phlegm.