Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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E Bu Shi Cao is a small creeping plant in the daisy family. Chinese herbal medicine uses it mainly to open a blocked nose. The whole plant above the ground is dried and used.
It is a single herb, not a blend. Another name for it is Centipeda herb. Its Latin name is Centipeda minima.
In old practice it is used for a stuffy or runny nose. It is also used for sinus pressure, for headache that sits behind the face, and for coughs.
A pinch of the powder is sometimes sniffed to make you sneeze and clear the nose. The fresh herb is also mashed and put on bruises and swellings.
Here is the honest evidence position. This herb has a long record in one tradition. But nearly all modern research is lab and animal work.
Traditional use tells you what people have done for hundreds of years. It is not proof that the herb works. That point holds for everything on this page.
The clearest effect is simple irritation. The powder is sharp on the lining of the nose. It makes you sneeze and loosens mucus for a short time.
That is likely most of what people notice.
Lab studies point to plant compounds that lower inflammation (swelling and soreness in tissue). The same compounds seem to calm allergy signals in cells. We do not know if this happens in a person at a normal dose.
No mechanism (way of working) here has been shown in human studies. Treat any account of how it works as a fair guess, not a settled fact.
You will meet it in these forms:
Dried whole herb for a decoction (the herb simmered in water as a tea).
Fine powder used as a nasal snuff, taken as a very small pinch.
Nasal drops or sprays sold in China as part of sinus blends, often with other herbs.
Fresh herb, mashed and put on the skin over bruises or swellings.
Granules and pills from Chinese pharmacies. These are usually one part of a multi-herb blend, not the herb on its own.
E Bu Shi Cao shows up in Chinese medical writing from the Song dynasty onward. Later herb books also describe it, such as the Ben Cao Gang Mu.
Its Chinese name means roughly 'the grass geese will not eat'. That name is a nod to its sharp taste.
Old texts group it with herbs that open the nose and drive out what tradition calls wind-cold. Its main job in tradition has always been the blocked nose.
See a doctor if your blocked nose or sinus pain lasts more than ten days, comes back quickly after seeming to clear, or comes with a fever. Get medical help the same day for one-sided facial pain and swelling, swelling around the eye, a change in vision, a severe headache with a stiff neck, or confusion. Stop the herb and seek urgent care if you get a spreading rash, swelling of the lips or tongue, or trouble breathing, which can mean a serious allergic reaction. Also see a doctor if you get a nosebleed you cannot stop within twenty minutes.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for E Bu Shi Cao is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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