Birch sap, a traditional Chinese medicine known as “birch sap” (正名桦树液), is the liquid that flows from the trunk of Betula platyphylla Suk., a plant in the Betulaceae family. It has the effects of expelling phlegm, relieving coughs, clearing heat, and detoxifying. It is used to treat coughs, wheezing, and painful, scanty urination.
Birch Sap
Birch sap, a traditional Chinese medicine known as “birch sap” (正名桦树液), is the liquid that flows from the trunk of Betula platyphylla Suk., a plant in the Betulaceae family. It has the effects of expelling phlegm, relieving coughs, clearing heat, and detoxifying. It is used to treat coughs, wheezing, and painful, scanty urination.
Chinese Name : 桦树汁
Nature, Flavor & Meridian Tropism : Bitter, cool
Benefits & Efficacy
Benefits
Relieves phlegm and suppresses cough; clears heat and detoxifies.
Indications
Used for cough, wheezing, and dark, scanty, and painful urination.
Usage and Dosage
Oral use: 20–30 ml of fresh juice.
Precautions
Not yet established.
Pharmacological Actions
1. Combats fatigue. 2. Enhances tolerance to hypoxia. 3. Increases the weight of immune organs. 4. Promotes growth and development.
Relevant Discussions
*Commonly Used Chinese Herbs of Heilongjiang*: “Clears heat and detoxifies. Treats scurvy, kidney disease, and gout.”
Applications
Clinical Applications
For coughs and wheezing: In spring (early to mid-May), make an incision in the birch bark, collect the flowing sap, and take it orally—2 wine glasses per dose, once daily. (*Medicinal Herbs of Jilin*)
Processing & Preparation
Harvesting & Processing
In May, make an incision in the bark, collect the sap, and use it fresh.
Crude Drug Identification
Botanical Information
Botanical Classification
White birch, a plant of the Betulaceae family.
Morphological Characteristics
White Birch, also known as: Powder Birch, Birch Bark Tree. A tree reaching up to 25 m in height. The bark is white and fissured; branches are dark gray or dark brown, glabrous; twigs are dark gray, young twigs are reddish-brown, smooth and glabrous. Petioles are slender, 1–2.5 cm long;leaf blades are ovate-triangular, triangular, rhomboid-triangular, or ovate-rhomboid, 3–9 cm long and 2–7.5 cm wide, with an acuminate apex, sometimes ending in a short tail-like tip; the base is truncate to cuneate, sometimes slightly cordate or nearly rounded; the margin is doubly serrate; the upper surface is sparsely hairy with glandular dots, while the lower surface is glabrous and densely covered with glandular dots; there are 5–7 pairs of lateral veins.The inflorescence is solitary, cylindrical or oblong-cylindrical, pendulous, 2–5 cm long; the peduncle is slender, 1–2.5 cm long, densely covered with short soft hairs, sometimes with glandular dots; the bract is 5–7 mm long, densely covered with short soft hairs on the outside, with a central lobe that is triangular-ovate, tapering to a point or blunt at the apex, and lateral lobes that are ovate or nearly round.The nutlets are narrowly oblong or ovate, 1.5–3 mm long and 1–1.5 mm wide; the membranous wings are 1/3 as long as the nutlet and nearly as wide. Flowering occurs from May to June; fruiting occurs from August to September.
Distribution Area
Northeast China, North China, and areas including Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Henan, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet. Cultivated in Jiangsu.
