Chinese Plant: Shihu 中药-石斛

The Shihu(石斛Shíhú) is touted as being of therapeutic benefit, serving to strengthen the stomach and bones, replenish(if you replenish something, you make it full or complete again) the kidneys, and prolong(to prolong something means to make it last longer) one's life span.

Food as a health booster is a unique part of Chinese culture. Cantonese people often put herbs in their soups to benefit their body. Many people for instance, use pears to help with seasonal cough and dryness in autumn.

More effective herbs such as ginseng, which is often boiled in soup to replenish energy, has become rather expensive. But recently, experts from Yunnan's Longling County came to Beijing to introduce a more affordable local herb - shihu, the stem of the noble dendrobium(a plant of the genus Dendrobium having stems like cane and usually showy racemose flowers).

Shihu is an orchid plant adnascent to trees such as pear or peach. It has beautiful flowers. The stem is used as a common herbal medicine. It has been used for more than 2,000 years in traditional Chinese medicine, according to the China Pharmaceutical Culture Society.

The Taoist Canon, a collection of Taoist literature from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), refers to shihu as the first of nine "celestial herbs" with great health benefits. Some other herbs on the list include Tianshan mountain snow lotus; gingseng weighing 150 grams; lingzhi, i.e. ganoderma from remote mountains; pearl from the bottom of the sea; and winter worm summer herb, or Chinese caterpillar fungus.

The Compendium of Materia Medica, written in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) by Li Shizhen (1518-1593), says shihu can replenish weakness of the internal organs, boost the yin factor and benefit the minor particles of the body. To be more specific the herb "strengthens the stomach and intestines, replenishes the kidneys and strengthens the bones, makes one feel light-bodied and prolongs life span".

Bi Wengang, deputy director of the China Pharmaceutical Culture Society, says the herb works on three channels of energy - the stomach, the lungs, and the kidneys. At the same time, it has very light side effects and benefits the majority of people.