Beishashen

Chinese Name: Bei Sha Shen
Medical Name: Radix Adenophorae Strictae
Latin Name: Glehnia littoralis Fr. Schmidt ex Miq. of the family Umbelliferae
Origin: Root, sundried
Taste: Delicate, sweet and slightly bitter.

Quotes from Chinese historical sources:

CORPUS OF DISCUSSION ON HERBS: "Treats all diseases due to deficiency of yin (insufficiency of body fluid) and pathogenic heat."

A FRESH APPROACH TO THE MATERIA MEDICA: "Particularly useful in nourishing yin to clear heat from the lungs, arresting chronic and stubborn coughs and preventing atrophy of the lung."

Western Research:

Planta Med 1996 Jun;62(3):256-9
Antibacterial and antifungal polyine compounds from Glehnia littoralis ssp. leiocarpa.
Matsuura H, Saxena G, Farmer SW, Hancock RE, Towers GH.
Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Glehnia littoralis F. Schmidt ssp. leiocarpa (Mathias) Hult. (Apiaceae), has antibacterial and antifungal properties. Antibacterial and antifungal compounds include two hitherto unreported polyine compounds, (9Z)1,9-heptadecadiene-4,6-diyne-3,8,11-triol and(10E)1,10-heptadecadiene-4,6-diyne-3,8,9-triol./p>

Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 1996 Jan;60(1):152-3
Potent allelochemical falcalindiol from Glehnia littoralis F. Schm.
Satoh A, Narita Y, Endo N, Nishimura H.
Department of Bioscience and Technology, Hokkaido Tokai University, Sapporo, Japan.
Falcalindiol was isolated from G. littoralis, and the antimicrobial activities of falcalindiol were evaluated by the paper disk method against several microorganisms. The plant growth inhibition of falcalindiol was also investigated.