Platycodon Root – 1 lb (454 g)

Platycodon Root, known in Chinese as 桔梗 (Jiégěng) and scientifically as Radix Platycodi, is a valued herb in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This TCM herb has been traditionally used to support natural wellness, maintain vitality, and encourage holistic balance. At TCMforyou.com, we provide premium-quality Platycodon Root carefully sourced to preserve its therapeutic properties.

As a herbal supplement, Platycodon Root helps promote overall well-being and supports natural energy, immunity, and balance. Integrating this herb into your wellness routine offers a gentle, time-tested approach to enhancing daily health. Whether brewed as tea, added to herbal remedies, or taken as part of a TCM formula, Platycodon Root provides a safe, natural way to experience the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine.

Trusted for centuries, Platycodon Root has been used in TCM to harmonize the body and encourage optimal functioning of key systems. At TCMforyou, we prioritize authenticity and quality. Each batch undergoes rigorous testing to ensure purity and potency, delivering an herbal product aligned with traditional practices.

Experience the natural support of Platycodon Root, promoting immune health, vitality, and holistic well-being. Embrace the wisdom of TCM and incorporate this gentle, effective herbal remedy into your daily wellness journey.

[Overview] This herb is also known as Gengcao, Bitter Platycodon, Luru, and Dayao. It is the root of Platycodon grandiflorum (Jacq.) A.DC., a plant of the Campanulaceae family. It is produced in most parts of China, with the largest yields in Northeast and North China, called “Northern Platycodon.” The quality of the product from East China is better and is called “Southern Platycodon.” It is harvested in autumn by digging up the whole root after cutting off the stems and leaves, washing off the soil, scraping off the outer skin while fresh or leaving it intact, soaking in clean water for 2–3 hours, then drying in the sun; or by removing the pith, slicing, and drying.

[Properties] Bitter and pungent in taste, neutral in nature. Enters the Lung meridian.

[Actions] Disseminates Lung Qi and expels phlegm, benefits the throat, and discharges pus.

[Applications] 1. Used for cough caused by external pathogenic factors invading the Lung and failure of Lung Qi to disseminate, applicable to both wind-cold and wind-heat types. For wind-cold constraining the Lung with thin phlegm and nasal congestion, aversion to cold and headache, often combined with Perilla leaf and Apricot kernel, as in the formula Xing Su San. For wind-heat attacking the Lung or early warm disease with mild fever, cough with yellow phlegm, slight thirst, often combined with Mulberry leaf and Chrysanthemum flower, as in Sang Ju Yin. For cough with copious phlegm, if cold predominant, combined with Pinellia and Coltsfoot flower; if heat predominant, combined with Trichosanthes and Fritillaria.

2. Used for sore throat and loss of voice. For sore throat and aphonia caused by external pathogenic invasion, often combined with Licorice, as in Jie Geng Tang; if heat toxin is severe with red swollen painful throat, combined with Honeysuckle, Sophora root, and Puffball; if Yin deficiency with dry mouth, sore throat, and red tongue, combined with Rehmannia, Scrophularia, and Ophiopogon.

3. Used for lung abscess with cough and chest pain, expectoration of foul-smelling pus, often combined with Licorice, as in Jie Geng Tang; or additionally with Patrinia, Coix seed, and Mulberry root bark. Clinically often combined with Houttuynia for enhanced heat-clearing and pus-discharging effects.

4. Used for chest oppression and hypochondriac pain. For pain caused by phlegm obstruction and Qi stagnation, often combined with Aurantii Fructus, as in Jie Geng Zhi Ke Tang; for Qi stagnation and blood stasis with stabbing pain, combined with Angelica, Chuanxiong, and Red Peony; for cold and solid chest binding, combined with Croton and Fritillaria, as in Jie Geng Bai San.

This herb is also commonly included in formulas for dysentery and urinary retention to promote Lung Qi dissemination, achieving the effect of “lifting the lid off a kettle.”

[Dosage and Administration] Internal use: decocted in water, 4.5–9 g; or used in pills and powders. External use: appropriate amount, ground into powder and applied topically.

[Cautions] Contraindicated in chronic cough due to Yin deficiency and coughing blood; use with caution in patients with gastric ulcers.

[Modern Research] 1. Chemical constituents: Platycodon root mainly contains pentacyclic triterpenoid saponins, as well as polysaccharides, steroids and their glycosides, fixed oils, and fatty acids.

2. Pharmacological actions: Platycodon has expectorant and antitussive effects. Its expectorant action is mainly due to direct stimulation of the mucosa in the oral cavity and throat, reflexively increasing respiratory secretions to dilute phlegm and facilitate expectoration; it has anti-inflammatory effects comparable in strength to aspirin; oral extracts or crude saponins of Platycodon prevent stress-induced gastric ulcers in rats; Platycodon saponins dilate peripheral blood vessels, reduce coronary and peripheral vascular resistance, increase blood flow, and have transient hypotensive effects; crude saponins have sedative, analgesic, and antipyretic effects mainly through central nervous system inhibition; crude saponins also lower blood glucose and cholesterol and relax smooth muscle.

3. Clinical reports: 1) Chronic pharyngitis: Platycodon, Pinellia ternata processed with lime, and raw Licorice each 30 g, powdered and soaked in 1000 ml bitter wine for one day, then mixed with egg white and taken orally 30 ml three times daily. In 180 cases treated, 170 cured, 8 markedly effective. [Zhejiang Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1992, 27(7):312]

2) Melasma: Platycodon, Angelica, and Chuanxiong prepared as an oil/water emulsion applied to facial lesions 2–3 times daily. In 37 cases treated for asthma, 2 markedly effective, 24 effective, total effective rate 70.2%. [Medical Herald, 1992, 11(6):35]

3) Severe epidemic hemorrhagic fever: Jie Geng Bai San [Platycodon, Fritillaria, Croton (peeled and defatted) each 3 g, finely powdered], taken once daily, 1 g per dose, 0.5 g for weak patients. In 219 severe acute renal failure cases, 199 cured (90.9%), 20 died, efficacy superior to Western conservative therapy. [Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1982, (12):33]