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Ji Shi Teng鸡矢藤

Paederiae Scandentis Herba · Chinese Fever Vine · Skunk Vine

Herbs that Relieve Food Stagnation 消食药《生草药性备要》

Overview

A scrambling vine of southern China whose crushed stem smells frankly of manure — which is how it got its name — and which is as much a village food there as a medicine, steamed into rice cakes for a child who will not eat. Sweet and slightly bitter with a neutral nature, it reduces food stagnation and strengthens a weak Stomach. It also carries a strength the rest of this chapter lacks: it relieves pain, particularly the cramping kind that arises in the stomach, the gut and the biliary tract, and it clears heat and toxin both taken internally and applied to the skin.

Nature & Flavor

Sweet, bitter · Slightly cold

Channels

Spleen · Stomach · Liver · Lung

Typical Dosage

15–60 g in decoction
鸡矢藤Photography for this entry is on its way.

Actions

4 core actions

  • Reduces food stagnation, strengthens the StomachUndigested food with a distended abdomen; childhood accumulation disorder with a swollen belly, thin limbs and no appetite — the traditional indication behind the rice-cake preparation.
  • Relieves painCramping epigastric pain from qi stagnation, intestinal and biliary colic, and period pain. It is normally combined with herbs chosen for the underlying pattern rather than given alone.
  • Transforms phlegm and stops coughA cough with thick, sticky, hot phlegm; used more in southern folk practice than in the standard prescriptions.
  • Clears heat, resolves toxinHot dysenteric diarrhoea and sore throat internally; boils, sores, burns and weeping eczema washed or poulticed externally.

In Formulas

Formulas containing Ji Shi Teng

No published formula lists this herb yet — the library is growing.

Indications & Clinical Uses

  • Food stagnation and childhood accumulation with abdominal distension
    - Cramping epigastric, intestinal or biliary pain
    - Cough with thick, hot phlegm
    - Hot diarrhoea, sore throat, boils, burns and weeping skin lesions

Western Medical Keywords

Searchable condition terms

IndigestionAbdominal cramping painBiliary colicCoughDermatitis

Contraindications

Cautions

Not a toxic herb, but the amounts used for pain sit well above the digestive dose, and at the upper end nausea, a dry mouth and loose stools are reported — stay inside the range the practitioner sets rather than escalating it at home. The smell is genuinely unpleasant and stops some patients finishing a decoction; it is better mentioned when the herbs are handed over than discovered at home. Pain that keeps returning, and any colic severe enough to need repeated dosing, should be investigated medically rather than managed with a herb.

Contraindicated in pregnancy: No established pregnancy restriction, but the large doses used for pain have no safety record in pregnancy. If it is used at all, keep to food-stagnation amounts and only on a practitioner's prescription.

For licensed practitioners’ reference only

References

  1. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
    2. 《中华本草》.
    3. 《中药大辞典》.

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.