Common reed, the root that restores the Fluids

Lu Gen simply reads “reed root”. This is no rare plant: the common reed, a tall grass 2 to 5 m high with hollow stems, grows along every kind of water in China, rivers, lakes, marshes and ditches. The part used is its rhizome, thick, creeping, hollow at the centre, yellowish white and glossy, with a frankly sweet taste. It has no reference growing region; Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hubei supply the most, and as it is harvested wild, the nearness of clean water matters a great deal for its quality.

Cooling and restoring the Fluids

In traditional Chinese medicine, reed is sweet and cold, and enters the Lung and the Stomach: the upper and middle body, precisely where Heat dries up the Fluids. The sweet taste benefits the Stomach and harmonises the Middle, the cold clears Heat; a classical commentator draws the whole mechanism from this: with the Heat resolved and the Stomach harmonised, the Fluids flow again. Its most characteristic action is to generate Fluids and ease thirst, and it clears without harshness, where the great cold herbs strike hard.

Sweet without being heavy

What sets reed apart is that it is sweet without being heavy, moistening without being sticky: the texts say it generates Fluids without holding back what needs to leave. Many herbs that nourish the Fluids thicken them to the point of trapping the Heat; not this one. It also helps the Stomach recover its natural movement, which is downward, and is then paired with bamboo shavings; with ophiopogon, which nourishes the Yin more deeply, it moistens Dryness. The fresh rhizome, juicier, is the form tradition prefers.