Zhu Li竹沥
Bambusae Succus · Bamboo Sap · Bamboo Juice · Dried Bamboo Liquid
Overview
- ·.*
Not a dried herb but a liquid: fresh green bamboo culms are cut, heated over a flame, and the pale yellow sap that runs out of the cut ends is collected. Sweet and cold, entering Heart, Lung and Liver. It is the most sliding, most penetrating of the cold phlegm herbs — it washes out thick yellow phlegm that will not come up, and it goes where other phlegm herbs do not, into the orifices, which is why it belongs to the stroke and convulsion prescriptions as well as the cough ones.
Because it is already an extract, it is never decocted. It is stirred into a finished decoction or taken straight, and the dose is measured in millilitres rather than grams. The classical convention is to add a few drops of fresh ginger juice: the old line is that bamboo sap cannot reach the channels without it, and the ginger also blunts its coldness and its tendency to loosen the bowel.
Nature & Flavor
Sweet · ColdChannels
Heart · Lung · LiverTypical Dosage
30–50 gActions
3 core actions
- Clears heat, washes out phlegmHot phlegm in the Lung: cough and wheeze with thick, sticky yellow sputum that resists being brought up, a hot chest and a yellow greasy coating. Its sliding quality is what distinguishes it — it thins the phlegm rather than merely drying it.
- Settles convulsion, opens the orificesPhlegm-heat clouding the mind: stroke with a phlegm-obstructed mouth and loss of speech, childhood convulsions, epilepsy and mania where heat and phlegm together are the pattern. This access to the orifices is the reason it appears outside the cough chapter at all.
- Ginger juice is part of the prescriptionThe classical instruction — — is practical as well as theoretical: the ginger tempers a very cold, very sliding substance, protects the stomach, and reduces the loosening effect on the bowel.
In Formulas
Formulas containing Zhu Li
No published formula lists this herb yet — the library is growing.
Indications & Clinical Uses
- Hot-phlegm cough and wheeze with thick yellow sputum that is hard to expectorate
- Stroke with phlegm obstructing speech and the mouth
- Childhood convulsions with high fever and phlegm
- Epilepsy and mania of the phlegm-heat type
Western Medical Keywords
Searchable condition terms
Contraindications
Cautions
- Cold and sliding. Not for cold-type cough with clear, watery, white sputum, and not for anyone with Spleen deficiency and loose stools — it will make the diarrhoea worse. This is its main practical limitation.
- Never boiled. It is already an extract; heating it in a decoction wastes it. Stir it into the finished, still-warm liquid or take it directly.
- Dose in millilitres, not grams. 30–50 ml. Treating the pharmacopoeia figure as grams of a dried herb underdoses it badly, and a liquid preparation invites the opposite error too — measure it.
- Storage. Genuine bamboo sap is a perishable liquid. It ferments and spoils if kept warm or left open; refrigerate an opened bottle, use it within its stated period, and discard anything cloudy, gassy or sour-smelling. Commercial Zhu Li preparations carry preservatives and their own shelf life — follow the label.
- Check what is in a bottled product. Some proprietary Zhu Li preparations are compounded with other herbs or with sweeteners; read the composition before giving one to a child or a diabetic patient.
- Not for an emergency. Convulsion, sudden loss of speech and altered consciousness all need emergency medical assessment first. The classical indications describe what the herb was used for within a tradition, not a reason to delay calling for help.
Contraindicated in pregnancy: No specific prohibition, but it is very cold and sliding, so it is used sparingly in pregnancy and only where hot phlegm is clearly the pattern. Avoid it if the bowels are loose. The decision belongs to the treating practitioner.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only
References
- Ming Yi Bie Lu《名医别录》(classical source, public domain).
2. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
3. 《中华人民共和国药典》— 30–50 g (a liquid measure), taken stirred in rather than decocted.
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.