Dendrobium Nobile

Dendrobium Nobile, also known as the Noble Dendrobium or Shi Hu in Pinyin, has been used for the medicinal purpose for at least 2,000 years. The evidence is the related record in “Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic”, which was written 2300 to 2780 years ago (the Warring States Period). This is a rare and precious Chinese herb and the main medicinal part is the stem. It usually grows atop the perpendicular cliff walls and is exposed to the moisture of dew and rain as well as to the essence of the sun and moon throughout the year. Thanks for that, TCM believes that it owns such rich and balanced pharmaceutical ingredients that it can be used clinically in the treatment of a variety of disorders, such as chronic pharyngitis, gastrointestinal disease, eye disease, thrombotic occlusive disease, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and so on.

Medicinally it mainly refers to the fresh or dried stem of Dendrobium nobile Lindl. This is a member in the family Orchidaceae. However, the name Shi Hu also means other dendrobium orchids varieties, including Dendrobium loddigesii Rolfe., Dendrobium fimbriatum Hook. var. oculatum Hook., Dendrobium chrysanthum Wall., and Dendrobium candidum Wall. ex Lindl. So other common names of this herb include Dendrobium Stem, Herba Dendrobii, Shi Hu Lan, dendrobium orchid, Jian Chai Shi Hu (literally “gold hairpin dendrobium”), and more. In China it is mainly produced in provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan. It is harvested all the year round, in particular in autumn. Medicinally it is usually dried by the fire or in the sun, cut, and used raw. The fresh one can be planted in the sand to keep them handy.
Dendrobium nobile plant is a perennial herb. Clustered stems are slightly flat and curved in upper part, 10 to 60cm high, up to 1.3cm thick, and with grooves, slightly thick knob, and narrow base. Subleathery leaves are oblong or elliptic, 6 to 12cm long, 1 to 3cm wide, and with 2-lobed apex. During flowering period it is foliate or leafless. Racemes are with 1 to 4 flowers, which are big in size, drooping, up to 8cm in diameter, and with white tepals with a light purple tint and purple apex; lip is obovate oblong, 4 to 4.5cm long, 3 to 3.5cm wide, and with rounded apex and 1 purple spot on the upper lip plate; anther is with 2 rooms and pollen block are 4. Fruits are capsule. Bloom time is from April to July. There are around 1000 dendrobium nobile species in the world and about 76 species in China. It is native to the tropical and subtropical Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands.
The medicinal uses of dendrobium have been recorded in a few famous ancient medical writings, such as Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (the Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica), Ben Cao Gang Mu (The Compendium of Materia Medica), Zhong Yao Da Ci Dian (The Dictionary of Medicinal Plant), and so on. What’s more, its modern pharmacology also confirms its amazing health benefits.
1) It can promote the secretion of gastric juice to aid digestion and result in hyperperistalsis to free movement of the bowels;
2) In large doses it leads to intestinal muscle paralysis;
3) It has some certain analgesic and antipyretic effect, which resembles to phenacetin but has a weaker effect;
4) It can enhance the macrophage phagocytosis in mice;
5) Dendrobium polysaccharides can restore the inhibited immune function in mice that is induced by hydrocortisone;
6) Its decoction can stop and correct the dissimilation in crystalline lens;
7) It has both delayed and therapeutic effects to the galactose-induced cataract in rats.

50g net