Ma Chi Xian (马齿苋) — Purslane | TCM Herb Guide

At a Glance

• Herb: Ma Chi Xian
• Chinese name: 马齿苋 (Mǎ Chǐ Xiàn)
• Latin name: Portulacae Herba
• Nature: Cold
• Taste: Sour
• Meridian: Large Intestine / Liver
• Category: Herbs that Clear Heat and Resolve Toxicity
• Introduction: Ma Chi Xian (马齿苋), Herba Portulacae, is the dried or fresh aerial part of Portulaca oleracea, the common purslane found in gardens worldwide. A cool, sour herb, it clears heat, resolves toxicity, cools blood, and stops diarrhea and dysentery. One of the few TCM herbs that is also a nutritious edible vegetable, it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and flavonoids with documented antibacterial, antidysenteric, and anti-inflammatory properties in modern research.

Action

• Clears heat and resolves toxicity
• Cools blood and stops dysentery
• Stops bleeding (blood-heat)
• Reduces swelling and relieves pain (topical)

Clinical Application

• Damp-heat dysentery and diarrhea with blood and pus — used alone in large doses or combines with Huang Lian, Bai Tou Weng
• Blood-heat bleeding: hematochezia, uterine bleeding — combines with Di Yu, Ce Bai Ye
• Toxic sores, carbuncles, snake bites — topical as fresh paste or internal decoction
• Skin infections, eczema with heat and pus — topical fresh juice or decoction wash
• Urinary tract infection with burning — combines with Bian Xu, Qu Mai

Precautions

• Dosage: 9–15 g dried; 30–60 g fresh in decoction
• Contraindicated in cold-damp diarrhea or dysentery without heat
• Contraindicated in spleen deficiency cold
• Avoid in pregnancy — may stimulate uterine contractions
• Incompatible with turtle (soft-shell) in dietary use — classical food incompatibility
• Generally very safe for topical use

Formula

• Ma Chi Xian Yin (马齿苋饮): Ma Chi Xian 60–120 g fresh — simple solo formula for acute dysentery
• Ma Chi Xian + Bai Tou Weng decoction — combined for hot dysentery with blood
• Topical paste: fresh Ma Chi Xian crushed and applied — classic first-aid for insect stings, toxic sores, and burns
• Ma Chi Xian Gruel (马齿苋粥): herb cooked with rice — dietary therapy for chronic diarrhea and dysentery

Combinations

• Purslane Herb (马齿苋) + Pulsatilla Root (白头翁) + Coptis Rhizome (黄连) → clear heat toxin, stop dysentery; bloody diarrhea
• Purslane Herb (马齿苋) + Sanguisorba Root (地榆) + Japanese Pagoda Tree Flower (槐花) → cool blood, stop bleeding; bloody stool and hemorrhoid bleeding
• Purslane Herb (马齿苋) + Dandelion (蒲公英) + Viola Herb (紫花地丁) → clear heat toxin, reduce swelling; toxic boils and carbuncles
• Purslane Herb (马齿苋) + Virgate Wormwood Herb (茵陈) + Gardenia Fruit (栀子) → clear damp-heat; jaundice and hepatitis
• Purslane Herb (马齿苋) (topical, fresh crushed) → apply to insect bites, hot skin lesions, and burns

Pharmacological Effects

• Antibacterial
  • effective against Shigella, Staphylococcus, E. coli
• Antifungal; anti-inflammatory; antioxidant; lowers blood sugar
  • anti-diabetic
• Lowers blood lipids; uterine stimulant
  • contraindicated in pregnancy
• omega-3 fatty acids: cardioprotective

Classic Description

• Ben Cao Gang Mu (《本草纲目》): ‘Purslane Herb disperses blood and reduces swelling, facilitates bowel movement and lubricates the fetus, resolves toxin and opens strangury, and treats postpartum deficiency sweating.’
• Shi Liao Ben Cao (《食疗本草》): ‘Cooked with Asparagus Root, treats all sores and swellings; long-term use makes the complexion radiant and kills all parasites.’
• Ben Cao Bei Yao (《本草备要》): ‘Disperses blood and resolves toxin, disperses swelling; treats carbuncle sore toxin, hot dysentery, hemorrhoid bleeding, and damp eczema with white baldness.’
• Kai Bao Ben Cao (《开宝本草》): ‘Governs eye blindness and white membrane opacity, facilitates bowel movement and urination, eliminates cold-heat, kills all parasites, stops thirst, and breaks accumulation masses and carbuncles.’