She Gan

Iris domestica (L.) Goldblatt & Mabb. (syn. Belamcanda chinensis, Iridaceae), commonly called blackberry lily or leopard flower, is a perennial herb native to East Asia, growing 60-120 cm tall with flat, fan-shaped rosettes of equitant lance-shaped leaves and branched flowering stems bearing 5-6 cm orange flowers spotted with red. After flowering it produces dehiscent capsules exposing shiny black seeds resembling a blackberry. The medicinal She Gan is the dried rhizome, harvested in autumn, irregular in shape, yellow-brown externally and orange-yellow within, rich in isoflavones (tectoridin, irigenin, irisflorentin) and triterpenoids. In traditional Chinese medicine, She Gan is bitter and cold, entering the lung channel; it clears heat, resolves fire toxicity, transforms phlegm, and benefits the throat, used principally for sore swollen throat with phlegm-heat, cough with copious yellow phlegm, and phlegm obstruction with wheezing. It is the chief herb in She Gan Ma Huang Tang.