- Region
- Asia
- Origin
- Northern China; cultivated for thousands of years and now spread worldwide. Morus alba
Asia · Herb · № 128
Morus alba en M. nigra
Herb · Asia
White mulberry
Morus alba en M. nigra
The leaf (sang ye) is being studied for post-meal blood sugar and is used in Chinese medicine for coughs and fevers; bark, twigs and berries each have their own use too. Evidence is preliminary.
Safety notes
May lower blood sugar; use caution with diabetes medicines. Unripe berries and the milky sap can cause stomach upset.
Cautions by tradition (2)
- Herbal medicine worldwide: Not too much fruit with diarrhoea.
- Chinese materia medica: Leaf not with cold and weakness in the lungs; the fruit not for diarrhoea from spleen deficiency.
Preparation
Leaf as tea; berries fresh or dried; bark and twigs as decoction. No dosage is given here.
Use in traditions
The white mulberry is inseparable from Chinese silk production: silkworms eat only mulberry leaves. Ody describes how Chinese medicine uses four parts of one tree.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Herbal medicine worldwide
Attributed effects
Root bark calming, diuretic, expectorant, lowers blood pressure; fruit tonic, astringent, laxative; leaf antibacterial, induces sweating, expectorant; twigs antirheumatic and pain-relieving.
Preparation and amount
Berries as a tonic for blood and yin, or eat fresh; juice of fresh berries as a gargle for mouth ulcers and sore throat; leaf tea for colds (with elderflower and mint); leaf syrup with honey for cough; root bark as a decoction for lung heat and oedema.
Caution: Not too much fruit with diarrhoea.
Chinese materia medica
- Nature and taste
- bitter, sweet, cold (leaf)
- Meridians
- lung, liver
Attributed effects
Practically the whole tree is medicine. The leaf (sang ye) opens the surface in colds with fever and sore throat, cools dry heat in the lungs in dry cough or thick yellow phlegm and cools the liver in red, painful or dry eyes. The twigs (sang zhi) expel wind and dampness in painful joints, especially in arms and shoulders, and support urination. The root bark (sang bai pi) cools the lungs in cough and relieves oedema. The fruit (sang shen) nourishes blood and yin in dizziness, tinnitus, insomnia, early grey hair and constipation from dryness.
Preparation and amount
Traditional dosage: 5–15 g a day, for the leaf. The twigs are used in higher doses (9–30 g).
Combinations
- Leaf with mint and jing jie for flu from wind-heat
- Leaf with chrysanthemum, lian qiao, mint and platycodon for fever with red eyes
- Twigs with stephania, mu gua and wei ling xian for rheumatic pain
- Fruit with he shou wu and privet fruit for yin deficiency of liver and kidney
Caution: Leaf not with cold and weakness in the lungs; the fruit not for diarrhoea from spleen deficiency.
- Ways to prepare herbs
- Tea (infusion)DecoctionSyrup, honey and oxymel