Exploring Dang Shen (Codonopsis pilosula): Properties, Uses, and Cultural Significance

This product is the dried root of the plant Codonopsis pilosula, also known as Dang Shen, or the smooth flower Dang Shen.

Related Names

Dang Shen, Tai Dang, Lu Dang Shen, Xi Dang, Han Zhong Dang, Wen Dang, Wen Yuan Dang, Jing Dang, Dong Dang, Liao Dang, Zhong Ling Cao, Shang Dang Ren Shen.

Origin

Mainly produced in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan provinces, and various regions in Northeast China.

Harvesting and Processing

Harvested in autumn, the above-ground parts and fibrous roots are removed, cleaned of soil, sun-dried until semi-dry, kneaded 3-4 times, and then bundled and dried completely.

Identification Characteristics

Dang Shen

It is long cylindrical, slightly curved, measuring 10-35 cm in length and 0.4-2 cm in diameter. The surface is grayish-yellow, yellow-brown to gray-brown.

The root’s head has numerous warty protrusions from stem scars and buds, with each scar’s top appearing as a depressed round dot.

There are dense ring-like transverse wrinkles below the root head, which become sparse downward, some reaching halfway down the entire length; cultivated varieties have fewer or no ring-like transverse wrinkles.

The entire root has longitudinal wrinkles and scattered transverse long pore-like protrusions, with black-brown gelatinous material often found at the breakage of lateral roots.

The texture is slightly soft or slightly hard with some toughness, the cross-section is slightly flat, with cracks or radial patterns; the bark is light brown to yellow-brown, and the wood part is light yellow to yellow. It has a special fragrance and a slightly sweet taste.

Smooth Flower Dang Shen (Xi Dang Shen)

Length 10-35 cm, diameter 0.5-2.5 cm. The surface is yellow-white to gray-yellow, with dense ring-like transverse wrinkles often exceeding half the length. The cross-section has more cracks, with the bark being gray-white to light brown.

Chuan Dang Shen

Length 10-45 cm, diameter 0.5-2 cm. The surface is gray-yellow to yellow-brown, with obvious irregular longitudinal grooves. The texture is softer and firmer, with fewer cracks in the cross-section, and the bark is yellow-white.

Processed Dang Shen Slices

They are thick, round slices, with the outer skin being gray-yellow, yellow-brown to gray-brown, sometimes showing numerous warty protrusions from the root head and buds. The cut surface has a bark that is light brown to yellow-brown, and the wood part is light yellow to yellow, with cracks or radial patterns. It has a special fragrance and a slightly sweet taste.

Stir-Fried Dang Shen

Shaped like Dang Shen slices, with a deep yellow surface, occasionally with scorch marks.

Properties and Channels

Sweet, neutral. Enters the Spleen and Lung meridians.

Characteristics

This product is sweet and nourishing, neutral, not drying or greasy, entering the Spleen and Lung meridians. Its qi-replenishing power is inferior to that of ginseng, often used for mild symptoms of Spleen and Lung qi deficiency. It also generates fluids and nourishes blood, treating symptoms of fluid deficiency and blood deficiency.

Functions

Tonifies the middle and benefits qi, generates fluids and nourishes blood.

Indications

1. Anorexia, vomiting, and diarrhea due to Spleen qi deficiency.

2. Shortness of breath and spontaneous sweating due to Lung qi deficiency.

3. Shortness of breath and thirst due to both qi and fluid deficiency.

4. Blood deficiency with sallow complexion, dizziness, and palpitations.

Dosage and Administration

Internal use: decoction, 9-30 g; or in pills or powders.

Precautions

Although this product is neutral, it is sweet and nourishing, thus not suitable for use in cases of excess heat.

Pharmacology

This product regulates gastrointestinal function, protects gastric mucosa, promotes healing of gastric ulcers, enhances immune function, increases red blood cells, white blood cells, and hemoglobin content, inhibits platelet aggregation, strengthens the heart, regulates blood pressure, protects against myocardial ischemia, improves learning and memory, and has antibacterial effects.

Story

Although many places in our country, such as Shaanxi, Gansu, and Northeast China, have begun large-scale cultivation of Dang Shen, its original home is in the Luzhou area of Shanxi, historically known as “Shang Dang.”

Therefore, many people still insist on purchasing Dang Shen from Shanxi, believing that only the Dang Shen produced here is the most authentic.

The Dang Shen produced in Lingchuan County in this land is of excellent quality and has been recognized by Tongrentang in Beijing as a dedicated production area for Dang Shen.

The “Five Flower Core” is a precious variety of Dang Shen produced in the Huang Song Bei area of Lingchuan, named for its cross-section resembling a blooming five-petal flower.

A saying in the medicinal community goes: “A thousand pounds of ginseng, ten thousand pounds of ginseng, is not as good as a single Five Flower Core from Huang Song Bei.”

East of Lingchuan County is the Wang Mang Ridge National Geopark, where a story about the “Flower Core Girl” is told.

Legend has it that in ancient times, a disease spread in Huang Song Bei village, causing people to lose their appetite, cough day and night, feel weak, and the crops in the fields to wither.

A family in the village had five daughters, named Da Hua, Er Hua, San Hua, Si Hua, and Wu Hua, whose parents had died early. They followed their grandfather to gather herbs in the mountains and understood some medicinal properties and medical knowledge. Seeing their grandfather and fellow villagers bedridden, the five sisters decided to seek out famous doctors.

They traveled over mountains and valleys for three days and nights, reaching a deep mountain gorge in Wang Mang Ridge, where they found an old herbalist with white hair and a terminal illness.

They asked the old man for advice, and he gave them a bag of herbs. When they inquired about what the herbs were, how to gather them, and how to plant them, the old man told them in fragments: “Half yin, half yang, stop the cannon, hang the bell, hold at night, cool during the day, once born, save the world.” Before he could finish, he passed away.

The five sisters hurriedly brought the herbs back to the village, decocted them, and after their family and fellow villagers drank it, they felt refreshed and regained their strength, bringing life back to the village.

In the following years, the five sisters, based on the old man’s teachings, finally understood how to cultivate Dang Shen, and the Dang Shen they grew had a cross-section that resembled a five-petal flower, thus the “Five Flower Core” was born.