Fritillaria cirrhosa. F. roylei  川 贝 母  Chuān bèi mǔ   Sichuan fritillary, Tendrilled Fritillary, Imperial Fritillary     
Similar to Fritillaria thunbergii- Zhe bei mu
PART USED: Bulb- harvested in Summer or Autumn.
Nature- cool    FLAVOR: Bitter, sweet, acrid. CHANNELS: Heart Lung
FUNCTIONS- same as Zhe bei mu.[3]
GROUP: Antitussive and Expectorant Clearing Hot Phlegm
1. Resolves phlegm to stop cough.[1,2,3]
2. Clears Heat and transforms phlegm.[4] Clear Heat to dissipate nodules.[4] Lowers fever.[1]
3. Moistening the Lung. Nourishes the Lungs.[1]
4. Dispels constipation.[1]
INDICATIONS
1. Chronic cough,[1,4] cough with signs of Fire due to Yin deficiency, cough with slight sputum that is difficult to expectorate, or cough with blood streaked sputum.[4] Dry cough with scanty sputum and dry throat due to Lung deficiency.[1,2,3]
2. Phlegm Fire collected and produces nodues, sore swelling, scrofula, and lung or breast abscess.[4] Enlarged cervical nodes.[1]
CONTRAINDICATIONS: This herb is ineffective in treating coughs from phlegm secondary to Damp Cold. According to some traditional sources, this herb is incompatible with Aconitum carmichaeli- Wu tou and counteracts Gentiana macrophylla- Qin jiao.[4]
PATENT COMBINATIONS
COMBINATIONS
PREPARATIONS: Decoction 3-10 g,[1,2,3,4] or 1-1.5 g when taken as a powder.[4] Grown in the province of  Sichuan- central China, hence the name. Harvested in Summer, used after being dried in sunlight.[2] Note that the raw, unprocessed herb is toxc and should never be taken internally. Good quality is white and has a powdery consistency.


References
Inner Path can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally .
Constituents
Research
The smallest lethal dose in mice is 40 mg/kg.[1]
References
[1] Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica- Dan Bensky and Andrew Gamble- Eastland Press 1986 Seattle Washington ISBN 0-939616-15-7

High altitude species, high profits: Can the trade in wild harvested Fritillaria cirrhosa (Liliaceae) be sustained?
Cunningham AB, Brinckmann JA, Pei SJ, Luo P, Schippmann U, Long X, Bi YF.
Abstract
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE:
Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don bulbs contain alkaloids and are one of the most intensively exploited alpine Himalayan medicinal species. In terms of proprietary medicines, our study shows that 210 F. cirrhosa products are offered by 46 suppliers, most of which (44) are situated in China and two in Nepal. A widespread commercial use is as one of the main ingredients in cough syrups. A well known example is "Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa Herbal Cough & Throat Syrup", which typically contains more F. cirrhosa than any other herbal ingredient in the formulation. The biggest market for F. cirrhosa bulbs is China, where demand exceeds supply of this wild harvested species for use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Cross-border trade from Nepal to China occurs in significant quantities. Bhutan also imports F. cirrhosa bulbs from Nepal. In addition, F. cirrhosa is registered as an active ingredient in traditional herbal medicinal preparations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. There is also an export trade in F. cirrhosa to Europe. Assessing how much F. cirrhosa is traded is complex, however, due to a "look-alike" challenge, as nine Chinese Fritillaria species are traded in Europe (Fritillaria cirrhosa, F. delavayi, F. hupehensis, F. pallidiflora, F. przewalskii, F. thunbergii, F. unibracteata, F. ussuriensis and F. walujewii).
AIMS OF THE STUDY:
The aims of this review were to assess the scale of the global trade in F. cirrhosa, and to synthesise studies of the impacts of wild harvest on F. cirrhosa populations and on the extent of emerging cultivation initiatives as an alternative to wild harvest.
METHODS:
Firstly, we reviewed published information on studies on impacts of wild F. cirrhosa harvest from across the geographic range of this species. Secondly, global trade data for F. cirrhosa were analysed.
RESULTS:
The principal demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs is in China, where hundreds of different companies produce Fritillaria preparations. Trade data also show that in 2013, China exported over 44 tonnes of F. cirrhosa bulbs to Taiwan and 26.7 tonnes to the Republic of Korea. Extensive commercial use and limited wild stocks result in a high price (2000 - 3800 CNY per kg (around US$ 303 -560 per kg in 2017)) for F. cirrhosa bulbs. Prices of cultivated Fritillaria bulbs are much lower (600-680 CNY per kg in 2017) than wild harvested bulbs. But due to very specific growth requirements of F. cirrhosa, cultivation is not yet able to meet total demand. The consequence is continued exploitation of wild stocks. At the same time, however, an increasing proportion of the demand is met by cultivation of alternative Fritillaria species that are easier to grow than F. cirrhosa. The air-dry mass of F. cirrhosa bulbs varies between 0.0917 and 0.1116 g per bulb. This represents 8960 - 10,900  bulbs/kg or 8.9 - 10.9 million bulbs per tonne. Current demand therefore represents billions of bulbs per year.
CONCLUSIONS:
Demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs, particularly from China, makes this species one of the most intensively harvested alpine Himalayan medicinal bulbs. Although F. cirrhosa is listed as a Class III protected species in China, billions of these tiny, wild harvested bulbs are sold per year. Due to demand exceeding supply, the price of F. cirrhosa bulbs has increased dramatically. Between 2002 and 2017, for example, the price of wild harvested F. cirrhosa bulbs increased over nine-fold, from the equivalent of US$60 in 2002 to US$560 per kg in 2017. To date, cultivation has been unable to meet the entire market demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs, although other Fritillaria species are successfully cultivated on a larger scale.
PMID: 29751123 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2018.05.004 J Ethnopharmacol. 2018 Sep 15;223:142-151. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2018.05.004. Epub 2018 May 9. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Plant Resource Availability of Medicinal Fritillaria Species in Traditional Producing Regions in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Dongdong Wang*, Xiong Chen, Atanas G. Atanasov, Xiao Yi and Shu Wang*
Abstract
The genus Fritillaria (Liliaceae) comprises of ~140 species of bulbous perennials, which are distributed in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Fritillaria species have attracted much attention because of their commercial value, partly as ornamental plants but principally as a source of material for use in traditional medicine. The use of Fritillaria extracts is well established in some countries in Eastern Europe (e.g., Turkey), and Asia (e.g., China, Japan). In traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal Fritillaria species is called Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae (BFC), which has been used as a traditional medicine for thousands of years. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no reports on resource investigation of plants of BFC in the last ten years. In this study, we chose 32 traditional producing regions in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to perform an investigation on resource availability of BFC. In five sites we did not find any plants of BFC. Results show that the average number of the plants of BFC per quadrat in 26 sites was less than 7, and the average resource density was <22 mg/m2. Habitat types and plant morphology of BFC plants were recorded. Our investigation shows that the area for artificial cultivation of BFC is larger than 400 hm2 and productivity was higher than 180 t. In addition, the total alkaloid contents of samples from cultivated bases and plantations are higher than that from wild fields. This study suggests that the wild populations of BFC are still at the risk of depletion. Artificial cultivation of BFC might be an important way to resolve the current contradiction between resource protection and resource utilization. In addition, identifying the closest European relatives of the Fritillaria species used in traditional medicine may resolve this contradiction.
Front. Pharmacol., 07 August 2017 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00502 frontiersin.org