Cuscuta (Tu Si Zi)

Chinese Bulk Herbs – Cuscuta (Tu Si Zi)

Cuscuta, also known as Chinese Dodder Seed, helps with lower back pain and persistent thirst, improves eyesight, builds muscles, and increases vigor. It also works to improve frequent urination and stops diarrhea.

Clinical Use (Chinese):
Tonifies both Kidney Yang and Kidney Yin to treat spontaneous emission and frequent urination improves vision and stops diarrhea.

Latin Name:
Cuscuta chinensis

Chinese Name:
Tu Si Zi

Common Names:
Cuscuta, Chinese Dodder Seeds

Parts Used:
Ripe seeds

Properties:
Pungent and sweet in flavor, neutral in property, acts on the Liver and Kidney channels.

Folk-Lore:
Dodder has always been an unpopular country plant. Dodder is also known as hellweed and devil’s guts, due to its tendency to overrun and strangle the plant on which it feeds. This host can be thyme, gorse, or a crop such as beans. Dodder does, however, have medicinal benefits. In his Materia Medica, Dioscorides (1st century AD) noted its use in classical times in combination with honey to purge “black bile” and to lift a melancholy humor.

In 1652, the herbalist Nicholas Culpeper similarly recommended dodder “to purge black or burnt choler.” Culpeper further stated that dodder plucked off thyme is the most efficacious; making the interesting point that the parasite’s medicinal benefits are determined in part by its host. MD Idea

Source of Earliest Record: Shennong Bencao Jing

Another story of Chinese Dodder Seed

There was once a rich man who was fond of rabbits and raised them for amusement. “Look after them carefully. Ah Ji, ” he said. “If any of them dies, it’ll be deducted from your pay. ”

One day Ah Ji accidentally dropped a stick that landed on a rabbit right across its lower back. “Uh-oh! “he exclaimed. Scared stiff, he quickly hid the rabbit in a bean patch. A couple of days later, the rich man noticed that a rabbit was missing and took Ah Ji roundly to task.

Ah Ji had no choice but to go to the bean patch and look for the rabbit. “The rabbit is tearing around, ” he said. “It must have eaten something. Huh? How does an injured rabbit have the energy to run around like that? That’s really weird. ” Ah Ji tried to grab the rabbit, but it hopped around so much he couldn’t. He went home and told his father what had happened. His father had been severely beaten by the rich man a few months earlier. His lower back hurt him so much he couldn’t get out of bed.

“I’d like to know what that rabbit ate, ” his father said. “Maybe it’d be good for my back. ” Ah Ji struck another rabbit across the back and put it in the bean patch to see what would happen. At first, the rabbit couldn’t move. It stretched its neck and nibbled the seeds of a yellow plant that clung to a beanstalk. After three or four days, the rabbit was up and about. “Hey! If the seeds of that plant could heal the rabbit’s back, they could have the same effect on people, ” his father said. “Go pick some and cook them into a medicine for me to drink. ”

The father drank the concoction. A few days later he could get out of bed and move around. Two months later, he was able to work in the fields. Ah Ji left the rich man’s house and devoted himself to gathering seeds and making them into medicine, which he distributed to people suffering from back pain. Because of his story, the herb is called tusizi, or rabbit’s thread, in Chinese. Its English name is dodder.

Cautions:
None known

*Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

**This information is provided to assist trained practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine with selection of products. If you are not familiar with these formulas or concepts please consult an acupuncturist or herbal practitioner trained in the use of Chinese herbs or refer to more in-depth reference materials. Chinese herbal remedies are meant to improve health and function, not act as a substitute for medical care.