This product is the seed of the annual or biennial herbaceous plant radish (Raphanus sativus L.) of the Brassicaceae family. It is produced throughout the country. Mature seeds are harvested in early summer and dried in the sun. They are used raw or stir-fried, and crushed before use.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Acrid and sweet, neutral. Act on spleen, stomach and lung meridians.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Promotes digestion and relieves distension, descends qi and resolves phlegm.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for food accumulation qi stagnation pattern. This herb has a pungent taste that can disperse and resolve accumulation, especially effective in moving qi and relieving distension. Therefore, it is commonly used to treat abdominal distension and fullness, belching acid swallow, and abdominal pain caused by food accumulation qi stagnation. It is often used in combination with hawthorn fruit, Medicated Leaven, Dried Tangerine Peel, etc., such as in Harmony-Preserving Pill. If treating food accumulation diarrhea, tenesmus, it can be used with Aucklandia Root, Immature Orange Fruit, Rhubarb Rhizoma, etc.
2. Used for cough with excessive phlegm, chest tightness, and poor appetite. This herb has the effects of resolving food stagnation, stimulating appetite, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, descending qi and relieving dyspnea. It can be used with white mustard seed, cultivated purple perilla fruit, etc., such as in Three-Seed Filial Devotion Decoction.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Rihuazi Bencao: "Grind with water to take for expelling wind phlegm, grind with vinegar to reduce swelling and detoxify."
2. "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Lowering qi to relieve asthma, treating phlegm, aiding digestion, reducing bloating, promoting urination and defecation, stopping qi pain, relieving dysentery and tenesmus, and inducing vesicle formation."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct and take 6-10g. When used raw, it induces vomiting to expel wind-phlegm; when stir-fried, it aids digestion, lowers qi, and resolves phlegm.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

This product is pungent and dispersing, consuming qi, so it should be used with caution in cases of qi deficiency and in the absence of food accumulation or phlegm stagnation. It should also not be used together with Ginseng.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains a small amount of volatile oil, as well as India mustard seed alkaloid, India mustard seed alkaloid hydrogen sulfate, radish seed extract, and other alkaloids and flavonoids. Whether used raw or fried, this product can enhance the rhythmic contraction of rabbit isolated ileum, inhibit gastric emptying in mice, increase the tension of circular muscles in the pyloric region of guinea pig stomach, and reduce the tension of longitudinal muscles in the gastric fundus. The effects are greater when used fried than when used raw. Fried radish seed can significantly counteract the inhibition of adrenaline on the rhythmic contraction of rabbit isolated ileum. The aqueous extract of this product and the contained India mustard seed alkaloid hydrogen sulfate have significant hypotensive effects, and the total alcohol extract also has hypotensive effects. The aqueous extract of this product has a certain inhibitory effect on staphylococci and bacilli such as large intestine, dysentery, and cold-damage disease. The water infusion has an inhibitory effect on various pathogenic skin fungi. The aqueous extract has a certain anti-inflammatory effect.