What it is:
This herb is thepulpy bulb of Lilium brownii F.E.Brown vat.viridulum Baker orLilium pumilum D.C.(family Liliaceae).It is washed clean after being dug out in autumn, slightly sca-lded in boiling water, dried in the sun, and used unprepared or stir- baked with honey.

Property:
Sweet in flavour, slightly cold inproperty, acting onthe lung and heart channels.

Effects:
Nourish-ing the lung to arrest cough and clearing away heart-fire to tranquilize the mind.

Used for:
1. For treatingcough due to dryness of the lung and phth-isical cough with he-moptysis, it is often used with dried re-hmannia root, scr-ophularia root and fritillary bulb, as in Lily Decoction forStrengthening theLung (Baihe GujinTang).

2. For the laterstage of febrilediseases with linger-ing fever, fidgeti-ness due to defici-ency, fright-induced palpitation, vague mind, insomnia anddreaminess, it isoften used with an-emarrhena rhizome or dried rehmannia root, as in Decoction of Lily and Anemarrhena(Baihe Zhimu Tang)and Decoction of Lily and Rehmannia (Baihe Dihuang Tang).

Dosage andadministration: 10-30g, decocted inwater for an oraldose. For clearingaway heart fire, itshould be used un-prepared, and for nourishing the lung, stir-baked with honey.

Precautions:
Lily bulb should not be prescribed for patients with cough due to pathogenic wind-cold or loose stool due to endoge-nous cold in the middle-jiao.