bai jie zi

白芥子·Semen Sinapis

White Mustard Seed

About bai jie zi

Bai Jie Zi (白芥子) is the white mustard seed, recorded as Semen Sinapis Albae. It is acrid in flavour and warm in temperature, entering the Lung channel alone. The catalogue files it among the herbs that transform Phlegm-Cold.

Names

Pinyinbai jie zi
Chinese白芥子
Latin NameSemen Sinapis·Semen Sinapis Albae·Semen Sinapsis
English NameWhite Mustard Seed
Japanesehyakugaishi
Koreanpaekgaeja

Classification

Channels
Lung
Flavour
Acrid
Temperature
Warm
Part used
Seed
Family
Apiaceae
Species
Bassica Juncea|Sinapis Alba
Tags
Chinese Herbs, Common

Actions and indications

Warms the Lungs, regulates Qi and expels Phlegm

  • Cold-Phlegm build-up, often chronic, with cough and wheezing, plenty of thin white or clear sputum, and a distended, tight chest with pain in the chest and ribs
  • Pain in the upper chest or at the diaphragm where Cold-Phlegm obstructs
  • Breathlessness

Moves Qi, dissipates nodules, unblocks the collaterals and relieves pain

  • Phlegm-Damp lodged in the channels, with numb limbs
  • Cold-Phlegm blocking the channels, with body aches and joint pain
  • Yin-type flat abscesses and boils, and tuberculosis of the bone
  • Spreading sores and bed sores
  • Scrofula and other Phlegm nodules or masses

Combinations

Dosage

AgeRawGranuleTinctureConcentrateFrequency
Any 3-15g Do not decoct for a long time3-15 g

Cautions

Interactions

Drug interactions

Prepared forms (1)

bai jie zi Chao

白芥子·Semen Sinapis

Bai jie zi chao (白芥子) is the dry-fried form of bai jie zi, the white mustard seed supplied as Semen Sinapis Albae. The catalogue files it among the substances that transform Phlegm-Cold. No channels, flavour or temperature are recorded.

The catalogue records no separate actions, dose or cautions for this preparation. Unless noted above it follows bai jie zi.