Mai Men Dong (Ophiopogon Tuber)

Prescriptions often write Mai Men Dong (麦门冬); the pharmacopoeial name is Mai Dong, the dried tuber of Ophiopogon japonicus. The official name is Ophiopogonis Radix. Shan Mai Dong is Liriope tuber, a separate monograph with similar actions but a different botanical source. Tian Dong is Asparagus tuber: sweet-bitter-cold, nourishes Yin, moistens dryness and clears the Lung to generate fluid, entering Lung and Kidney—colder and more moistening. Do not swap in ornamental mondo-grass fibrous roots or an equal weight of Tian Dong. Classics sometimes removed the core; modern practice usually uses the whole raw tuber.

According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Mai Dong is sweet, slightly bitter and slightly cold, enters the Heart, Lung and Stomach channels, and acts to nourish Yin and generate fluid, moisten the Lung and clear the Heart. It is used for Lung-dryness dry cough, Yin-deficiency taxation cough, throat impediment and pain, thirst from fluid damage, internal-heat wasting-thirst, vexation and insomnia, and intestinal dryness with constipation. Sweet, moistening and slightly cold—suited to Lung-Stomach-Heart Yin damage with dryness-heat, not to Spleen-Stomach deficient-cold diarrhea, phlegm-damp cough or early wind-cold.

Wash, moisten through, press flat and dry; it goes in the pot with the rest. Classics said an unremoved core vexes the spirit; modern slices usually keep the core. Fresh tuber more clearly clears heat and generates fluid—the dose may rise slightly or it may be pounded for juice; pharmacies mainly stock the dried drug. First- or late-decoction is not needed.