All-Grass of Acaulescent Pegaeophyton

Chinese
高山辣根菜
Pinyin
Gao Shan La Gen Cai
Latin
Herba Pegaeophyti Scapiflorae

TCM Properties

Taste
bitter
Temperature
cold
Channels
Lung

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

  • Clears Lung Heat — used for pneumonia, cough with fever, respiratory tract infections, and common cold with heat signs
  • Relieves toxicity — used for febrile infections and toxic heat patterns in the upper burner

Secondary Actions

  • Clears heat from the respiratory tract to reduce fever and relieve cough with yellow phlegm

Classical References

  • Dumu Materia Medica (Tibetan regional pharmacopoeia) — documents Gao Shan La Gen Cai for clearing heat from the Lungs and treating respiratory disorders

Modern Research

Active Compounds

  • Flavonoids — identified by phytochemical investigation as primary secondary metabolites; antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
  • Glucosinolates — characteristic Brassicaceae family compounds; potential antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity
  • Phenolic acids — antioxidant fraction identified in metabolomic profiling

Studied Effects

  • Lung-protective — network pharmacology and transcriptomics analysis demonstrates mechanistic basis for alleviating LPS-induced acute lung injury; anti-inflammatory targets identified
  • Antimicrobial and antiviral — consistent with clinical use for pneumonia and respiratory infections; formal mechanistic studies ongoing

Safety & Interactions

Contraindications

  • Cold-type respiratory conditions — cold nature is contraindicated for Lung cold or wind-cold cough without heat signs

Cautions

  • Sparsely documented in international literature — English-language clinical safety data is limited; herb is regionally used in Tibetan and high-altitude Chinese medicine
  • MSK page not found — drug interaction data not available from Memorial Sloan Kettering integrative medicine database

Conditions