Rice bean

Puffy legs and a swollen belly in a tired patient with scanty urine and a slightly yellow cast, where a food-grade diuretic can be taken daily for weeks

Early damp-heat jaundice with itching and edema, where it is combined with ma huang and lian qiao in the classical formula

Overview. Chi xiao dou is the small, oblong, dark red seed of the rice bean, a twining annual legume grown across southern China, Southeast Asia and the Himalaya as a food crop. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia accepts both this species and the adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) under the same drug name, but the slender rice bean is the classical article. In Chinese medicine it is a neutral, gentle food herb that drains dampness through the urine, clears damp-heat and jaundice, and draws pus from sores, and it can be eaten in quantity for long periods.

Clinical Notes. Chi xiao dou is a kitchen medicine. For edema it is cooked as a thick soup or congee, often with yi yi ren (Job's tears), fu ling and a little chen pi, and eaten daily; a classical pairing simmers it with carp for edema in pregnancy and after childbirth.

Chinese Medicine Profile. Temperature: neutral. Taste: sweet, sour. Channels: Heart, Small Intestine. Actions: Promotes urination and reduces edema; Clears damp-heat and relieves jaundice; Resolves toxicity and drains pus from sores and abscesses; Applied externally, reduces swelling of boils, mumps and erysipelas.