Hai Fu Shi海浮石
Pumex · Pumice · Floating Stone · Fu Hai Shi
Overview
- ·.*
A light, porous, sea-worn stone that floats — hence the name. Two quite different materials are traded under it: volcanic pumice, a silicate rock full of gas bubbles, and, the calcareous skeleton of certain bryozoans. Both are salty and cold and are used interchangeably in the tradition, though a careful pharmacy will tell you which one it is selling.
Salty, cold, entering Lung and Kidney. Its work follows from its saltiness: it softens what is hard. It thins and clears hot, sticky phlegm from the Lung, softens scrofulous nodes and goitre, and drains the urinary tract when there is blood or gravel. Being a mineral it is crushed and decocted ahead of the other herbs.
Nature & Flavor
Salty · ColdChannels
Lung · KidneyTypical Dosage
10–15 g in decoctionActions
4 core actions
- Clears the Lung, transforms phlegmCough and wheeze with thick, sticky, yellow phlegm that is difficult to bring up, and the dry, hard cough of long-standing Lung heat. Its cold, salty quality suits phlegm that has been baked thick by heat rather than phlegm that is merely copious.
- Softens hardness, disperses nodulesScrofulous nodes along the neck, goitre and phlegm lumps. This is the classical use of salty minerals, and Hai Fu Shi is commonly paired with Kun Bu, Hai Zao and Mu Li for it.
- Drains and unblocks the urinary tractPainful urination with blood or with gritty sediment — and in the classical categories. Urinary stones and blood in the urine both require medical diagnosis first.
- Two source materialsVolcanic pumice (Pumex) and the bryozoan skeleton (Costaziae Os) are both dispensed as Hai Fu Shi. They differ chemically — one silicate, one calcareous — and regional practice differs on which is preferred. It is worth knowing which your supplier ships.
In Formulas
Formulas containing Hai Fu Shi
No published formula lists this herb yet — the library is growing.
Indications & Clinical Uses
- Hot-phlegm cough and wheeze with thick, sticky yellow sputum
- Long-standing dry, hard cough from Lung heat
- Scrofula, goitre and phlegm nodules
- Painful urination with blood or gravel (after medical investigation)
Western Medical Keywords
Searchable condition terms
Contraindications
Cautions
- Cold — not for cold patterns. Contraindicated in cough from cold with clear, watery, white sputum, and unsuitable for anyone with Spleen and Stomach cold-deficiency, where it will worsen appetite and stools.
- Crush and pre-decoct, or it does nothing. A whole lump boiled briefly releases almost nothing. Break it up and give it twenty to thirty minutes ahead of the rest.
- Know which mineral you have. Pumice and are chemically different materials sold under the same name. For most purposes practice treats them as interchangeable, but a supplier who cannot say which one they are shipping is a supplier worth questioning.
- Mineral purity. Sea-collected stone can carry sand, salt and marine debris, and volcanic rock can carry heavy metals depending on its origin. Use pharmacopoeia-grade material from a licensed supplier with test data, not stone gathered off a beach.
- Not a first-line herb for a lump or for blood in the urine. A neck node, a goitre, blood in the urine or suspected stones all need medical diagnosis before any herb is chosen. Softening nodules is a traditional action, not a substitute for finding out what the lump is.
- Long courses. Prolonged use of a cold mineral is hard on the digestion; keep courses purposeful and reassess.
Contraindicated in pregnancy: No specific prohibition is recorded, but it is a cold mineral with a draining, softening action and is not used casually in pregnancy. Reserve it for a clear hot-phlegm pattern, keep the course short, and leave the decision to the treating practitioner.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only
References
- 海浮石 enters the materia medica through the Song 本草 literature; sources differ on which text first records it, and no first source is asserted here.
2. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
3. 《中华人民共和国药典》and provincial 中药材标准 — 海浮石 is supplied as both Pumex and Costaziae Os (石花); check which the monograph behind your material refers to.
Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.