Bletilla

Bright or rust-colored blood in the sputum of a thin, dry-coughing patient with a chronic lung condition

Peptic ulcer with a burning epigastric ache and black stools or coffee-ground vomit that needs a coating, sealing herb

A clean wound, burn, or cracked skin that bleeds or oozes and will not close

Overview. Bletilla striata is a hardy terrestrial orchid of eastern Asia, used in Chinese medicine for its flattened, starchy tuber, sold as bai ji. The dried tuber is horn-hard and swells in water into a thick mucilage; that gum is the point of the drug. Bai ji is the leading astringent hemostatic for the Lung and Stomach and the classic topical agent for wounds, burns, and cracked skin. It is one of the eighteen incompatibilities against aconite, and since all Bletilla are on CITES Appendix II, use cultivated material.

Clinical Notes. Think of bai ji as a living bandage. Internally it is the herb for bleeding from a damaged surface: the eroded lining of a gastric ulcer, or a lung that coughs up blood. The classic pairing for gastric bleeding is bai ji with san qi as a fine powder swallowed with water in roughly equal parts; for ulcer disease without active bleeding, bai ji with wu zei gu is the traditional combination.

Chinese Medicine Profile. Temperature: slightly cold. Taste: bitter, sweet, astringent. Channels: Lung, Liver, Stomach. Actions: Astringes and stops bleeding, especially from the Lung and Stomach; Reduces swelling and generates flesh, closing sores and ulcers; Moistens and protects damaged mucosa; Applied externally, seals cracked skin, burns, and non-healing wounds.

Conservation. Endangered in the wild across much of its range and listed on CITES Appendix II with all orchids; commercial supply is now largely cultivated, and only cultivated material should be used.