Wang Bu Liu Xing, the seed the king cannot hold back

Wang Bu Liu Xing means “the king does not hold back its march”. Li Shizhen gave the explanation: the nature of this seed is to run without stopping, and not even a king’s order could hold back its course. It is the seed of cowherb, Vaccaria segetalis, a small plant with a waxy blue-green habit and pink flowers that grows in and around wheat fields; its genus name comes from the Latin vacca, cow. The seeds, white while still green, turn black and glossy when ripe, and Hebei leads production. Outside the decoction pot, it has a second life: it is the seed that is fixed onto points on the ear and pressed with a finger.

Setting Blood moving again

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the seed is neutral and bitter. Bitterness makes things descend and pierces what stagnates; neutrality, rarer than one might think among plants that move Blood, allows it to combine as well with cool plants as with warm ones. It enters the Liver, which stores Blood and ensures its free flow, and the Stomach meridian. Its primary action is to move Blood and open the meridians: it pierces what has knotted in the vessels, without depleting the body’s Qi, unlike the plants that break up Blood.

Opening the passages, downwards

Its bitterness also guides downwards the Dampness and Heat accumulated in the Lower Burner: tradition credits it with making urine flow and freeing its passage. It is not one of the plants that clear Heat, which is why it is paired with fringed pink, which clears Heat while the seed brings movement to Blood. The roasted form, which bursts like popcorn into little white flowers, opens up the seed: all its actions are more marked. Tradition reserves it for short periods rather than prolonged use.