Ephedra (technically Ephredra sinica) or ma-huang, is a shrub with small scaly leaves that comes from northeastern China, Russia, and Mongolia, and is especially interesting in the history of medicine.
Recipes using ephredra have been used for thousands of years in Classical Chinese medicine. Frequently the plant has been a key ingredient in treating asthma and other illnesses involving the lungs. Check out this one written by Zhang Shi-Chè in 1550 in his “Marvelous Formulas for the Health of Multitudes,”: it uses nine herbs, but ephredra is the “king herb,” meaning it plays the major role, in the formula Ding Chuan Tang. The TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) pages I consulted state that it can be used to treat asthma and chronic bronchitis. And in the journal _BioMed Research International, authors Jason Ma et al., ran an experiment that claimed that Ding Chuan Tang helped treat asthmatic mice — so it’s potentially something that can lead to trials in Western medicine for people who suffer from such conditions.
But the ways that Classical Chinese texts discuss the properties of ephedra come at their subject from a completely different worldview. Ding Chuan Tang is a formula “for a rebellious Qi”, with Qi being the life force — something unmeasurable by Western standards. And the drug is not to cure the condition per se, but to address a pattern of bad energy balance — in this case “phlegm-heat” could be the problematic pattern. The taste of ephedra is important — bitter and pungent, it goes along with the aim to unblock the Qi in the lungs, promoting sweating.
The role of Qi, the emphasis on energetic patterns and a need to balance them, and the references to weather like “wind” and “heat” typify Classical Chinese Medicine (called TCM after Mao).
Sources: “Ding Chuan Tang attenuates airway inflammation and eosinophil infiltration in ivalbumin-sensitized asthmatic mice,” Jason Ma et al, 2021 Sept 20, BioMed Research International.www.meandqu.com/tcm-education-center/formulas/ding-chuan-tang#
