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Sanggen Baipi (Cortex Mori)

Sangshang Jisheng (Taxillus chinensis growing on Mulberry)

The flavor is sweet and pungent, with a strong sweet taste and a weak pungent taste. The nature is cold. It can ascend and descend, belonging to the category of Yang within Yin. It is non-toxic. Those growing in valleys are few, while those planted in gardens are many. Mulberry from mountains has hard texture, and its wood can be used for eaves; mulberry from homes has a rich aroma, and its leaves can be used to feed silkworms. For medicinal use, one must seek home-grown mulberry. Harvest near winter, process finely according to standard methods. Roots that have emerged from the soil are harmful to humans; roots growing eastward possess vital energy (Sheng Qi). When harvesting the bark, wash it close to the wood, retain the white part, and remove the green outer layer. Chop with a copper knife; avoid lead and iron. Mix thoroughly with thin honey, stir-fry over low heat until dry. As an guiding herb (Shi Yao), combined with Xuduan (Radix Dipsaci) and Guixin (Cortex Cinnamomi), it enters the Hand-Taiyin Lung Meridian. Sweetness assists Yuan Qi (Primal Qi), tonifying deficiency due to overwork, frailty, and emaciation. Pungency drains Fire Evil (Luo Qianfu stated: Sangbaipi purges the Lung, meaning it purges Fire Evil in the Lung, not Lung Qi itself; when Fire is removed, Lung Qi becomes tranquil). It stops wheezing, coughing, and hemoptysis. Promotes urination, reduces edema, relieves thirst, and dispels phlegm. For knife wounds sutured like threads, applying hot chicken blood causes immediate healing. The white juice inside the bark is harvested according to the four seasons. In spring and summer, harvest upward-flowing juice (from branch and trunk bark); in autumn and winter, harvest downward-flowing juice (from root bark). Apply to metal wounds to stop bleeding (peel off white bark and wrap it, allowing juice to enter the wound effectively); apply to snake bites to eliminate poison. Dab on cracked lips for easy healing; dyes brown without falling off. Decoct in a pot until red like sugar to push out old phlegm and retained blood. Leaves harvested after frost, decocted as tea, are exceptionally effective for washing eyes to remove wind-induced tearing. Crushed with salt and applied, it treats venom from snake, insect, and centipede bites; steamed and crushed, it treats traumatic injury and stagnant blood coagulation. Decocted as tea substitute, it eliminates edema and foot swelling, directs Qi downward to benefit joint mobility; ground into powder (taken with decoction), it stops cholera-like vomiting and diarrhea, induces sweating to relieve wind-bi pain. Roasted and decocted thickly with Sangyi (Mulberry Leaf), it treats dysentery and various injuries to stop bleeding. Decoction of branches, taken regularly, brightens ears and eyes. Relieves stiffness and spasms of hands and feet, disperses Hongjiaojiao (Gout); moistens dry skin and hair, drives away wind-induced itching. Opens the urethra to promote urination, reduces dizziness in eye sockets. Benefits wheezing, coughing, and rebellious Qi; reduces swelling, toxic sores, and carbuncles.

Sangshen (Morus Fruit) is harvested, sun-dried, mixed with honey, and formed into pills. It opens orifices, benefits passages, calms the soul, and stabilizes the spirit. Long-term use prevents hunger, sharpens hearing, and brightens vision. Black Sangshen juiced represents the essence of the mulberry. Boil in a pot to a thin paste, add honey to thicken. Clears Fire Toxicity, store in porcelain bottles. Before sleep, take with boiling water (1-2 qian per dose). Resolves dryness-heat from minerals/metals, stops thirst, turns white hair and beard black. (One formula: Mix black Sangshen with one jin of tadpoles, seal in a bottle, hang facing east under the house for 100 days until it turns to mud, then dye white whiskers black as lacquer. Another formula: Take fourteen black Sangshen, mix with walnut fat, grind into mud, pluck out white whiskers, apply to the pores to grow black whiskers.)

Chaihui (Mulberry Ash) is pungent and cold, its leachate is slightly toxic. Mixed with Donghui (Winter Ash) to make a paste for removing warts and black moles. It can combine with lead and mercury, benefiting alchemists.

Sanger (Fomes Officinalis on Mulberry) is toxic but has a sweet taste; ancient formulas used soft, moist specimens for consumption. Harvest, chop, decoct in mellow wine, and taste. It scatters blood miraculously and stops bleeding very quickly. Black ones treat women's masses (Zhijia), metrorrhagia, leukorrhea, and sudden breast swelling; yellow ones treat men's chronic fluid retention, accumulations, abdominal pain, and fresh metal wounds. If yellow, ripe, aged, and white, it stops diarrhea and tonifies Yuan Yang.

Sanghua (Mulberry Flower) does not refer to Morus fruit flowers, but to white lichen on the tree. Its shape resembles Geqianhua (Marchantia polymorpha flowers), hence the name. Shave off with a knife, stir-fry in fire for medicine. Nature is mild, non-toxic, strengthens Spleen, astringes Intestines. Stops metrorrhagia, controls leukorrhea. Heeps epistaxis and hematemesis, stabilizes intestinal wind bleeding.

Sangshang Duchong (Borer worm on Mulberry) treats sudden heart pain, ulceration of metal wounds, and can also generate flesh.

Sangshang Jisheng grows between nodes. Leaves are dense and soft like citrus leaves, stems are thick and brittle like locust branches. Parasites on other trees are ineffective; only those on mulberry with rich energy are wonderful. To seek its main indications, identification must be precise and detailed. Some say: crush the fruit; if the juice is thick and sticky, it is genuine. Others say: break the stem; if the color is deep yellow, it is genuine. One should definitely follow this distinction, and value those that entangle mulberry branches. In surgery, it disperses sores and ulcers, pursues wind-dampness, and cures severe back stiffness and waist pain; in gynecology, it calms pregnancy, promotes lactation, and stops metrorrhagia and leakage. Strengthens sinews and bones, improves skin, heals metal wounds, benefits blood vessels. Grows long whiskers and hair, strengthens teeth. Taking the fruit spiritually connects, lightens the body, and brightens the eyes.

(Mo) Note: Among woody herbs, Sangshang Jisheng is the most difficult to obtain authentically. The genuine variety must come from mulberry trees near the sea, with lush vitality, warm soil where silkworms are not raised, leaves not picked, naturally growing between nodes, entangling mulberry branches. Harvested and dried in shade, it can be used medicinally. On peach, plum, elm, willow, zelkova, pine, maple, etc., parasites occasionally appear, but they lack the rich energy of mulberry, merely borrowing mulberry's energy to be considered good. Therefore, for conditions of pain caused by wind-dampness, ancient formulas often used Duhua Jisheng Tang (Single Atractylodes and Taxillus Decoction), which was highly effective. Today, people take it, but achieve no results. Is this not because the drug is not genuine? Moreover, ancient famous doctors formulated prescriptions with the primary disease-curing herb as the Sovereign (Jun). The Chuan Duhua (Atractylodes lancea from Sichuan) and Sangshang Jisheng used both could dispel wind and overcome dampness, serving as main herbs, which was indeed appropriate. However, modern merchants, finding the genuine article rare, often collect Muzhisheng (parasites on other woods), claiming them as Sangshang Jisheng for profit. Although the species are similar, their flavors and natures differ greatly. Furthermore, Chuan Duhua is often not identified clearly, replaced by Tudanggui (Angelica pubescens). Both are drying in nature, depleting Wei Qi (Defensive Qi) and damaging Ying Qi (Nutritive Qi), causing harm rather than benefit, surely worsening the condition. Fortunately, recently Mr. Wu from Jiaoshan has clarified the identification of Duhua. Originally, Qianghuo and Duhuo were one type; those with dense nodes, light and hollow are Qianghuo, while those with sparse nodes, heavy and solid are Duhuo. Chuan Xuduan (Radix Dipsaci) and Sangshang Jisheng have slightly different flavors and natures but similar main indications; if Jisheng is unavailable, Xuduan is added. Thus, a new formula named Qianghuo Xuduan Tang was established. This allows physicians not to be rigid about specific names, and patients not to mistake fake drugs. Such benevolent grace is profound!