Traditionally used for
- Fertility & vitality
- Pain & joints
☯ TCM Properties
Tonifies the Kidneys and fortifies sperm; Invigorates the Blood, disperses swelling and removes toxicity; Expels Wind-Dampness
Traditional Chinese Uses
Bi Li (Fructus Fici Pumilae) is the receptacle-fruit of Ficus pumila, the creeping fig. Sweet and sour with a neutral nature, it tonifies the Kidneys and secures Essence, and is used for impotence, spermatorrhea and seminal emission, and for Kidney-related weakness of the low back and knees. In southern China its fruit and vine are also known as "Guangdong Wang Bu Liu Xing," where it invigorates the Blood and promotes lactation and the free flow of milk in nursing mothers.
Additionally it invigorates Blood, disperses swelling and resolves toxicity for abscesses, scrofula and inflammatory swellings, and expels Wind-Dampness for aching joints. The mucilage pressed from the achenes is set into the familiar cooling "ice jelly" (aiyu/love-fig jelly) consumed in Taiwan and Fujian. Being astringent and mild, it is generally combined with other tonifying or Blood-moving herbs rather than used alone.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Ficus pumila L. (Moraceae), the creeping fig or climbing fig, is an evergreen woody vine native to East Asia, widely cultivated in southern China, Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam. The plant exhibits striking dimorphism: juvenile stems are slender, densely clinging by adventitious roots, bearing small ovate-cordate leaves 1.5-2.5 cm long; mature fertile branches are stout and free-climbing with larger, leathery, elliptic leaves up to 10 cm long. Like other figs, the inflorescence is a syconium, here pear-shaped, 4-7 cm long, ripening from green to purple, containing many tiny achene-like fruits embedded in a gelatinous pulp. The pulp of mature receptacles is used to make liang fen jelly in Taiwan. In TCM, Bi Li (the receptacles and stems) tonifies the kidneys, strengthens sinews, invigorates blood, and relieves swelling.
Active Constituents
Pumilaside A
Eudesmane sesquiterpenoid glucosideConcentration: isolated from the glycosidic fraction of the fruit; not quantified as a percentage of the drug
One of three sesquiterpenoid glucosides described specifically from Ficus pumila fruit, characterised as (1S,4S,5R,6R,7S,10S)-1,4,6-trihydroxyeudesmane 6-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside. These are among the few compounds documented in the fruit itself rather than in the leaf or stem, and serve as chemical markers for the correct plant part. No pharmacological activity has been established for them.
Pumilaside B
Maaliane sesquiterpenoid glucosideConcentration: isolated from the fruit; not quantified
Characterised as (1S,4S,5S,6R,7R,10S)-1,4-dihydroxymaaliane 1-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside. A fruit-specific marker compound with no demonstrated pharmacology.
Pumilaside C
Cadinane sesquiterpenoid glucosideConcentration: isolated from the fruit; not quantified
Characterised as 10alpha,11-dihydroxycadin-4-ene 11-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside. A fruit-specific marker compound with no demonstrated pharmacology.
Rutin
Flavonol glycoside (quercetin-3-O-rutinoside)Concentration: present in both the fruit glycoside fraction and the leaf; the quantified leaf data come from Okinawan Ficus pumila material, not from the fruit drug
The flavonoid with the strongest antioxidant activity in DPPH radical-scavenging and superoxide inhibition assays on Ficus pumila leaf extract. Rutin is not specific to this species and cannot be used to authenticate the drug.
Benzyl beta-D-glucopyranoside
Phenolic glucosideConcentration: isolated from the fruit alongside the pumilasides
A simple aromatic glucoside recovered from the fruit glycoside fraction; contributes to the fruit's aroma. No established pharmacological role.
Bergapten (5-methoxypsoralen)
Linear furocoumarinConcentration: reported in all analysed parts of Ficus pumila; psoralen additionally reported in the roots. No figure for the dried fruit drug has been published.
A phototoxic and photoallergenic furocoumarin. It is the constituent that makes contact with the fresh sap of this plant a documented cause of phytophotodermatitis, and it is the single most safety-relevant compound in the species. Its presence in the processed, dried fruit at clinically meaningful levels has not been measured.
Low-methoxyl pectin
Polysaccharide (de-esterified galacturonan)Concentration: concentrated in the achenes, pedicels and sepals of the female syconium
The gelling polysaccharide of the fruit. Endogenous pectinesterases are activated when the achenes are rubbed in cold water, de-esterifying the pectin so it sets into a jelly. Most of this work has been done on Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang (jelly fig), the Taiwanese food variety, rather than on the medicinal type variety.
Triterpenoids of the oleanane, ursane, lupane, dammarane, lanostane and cycloartane series
TriterpenoidsConcentration: 29 triterpenoids catalogued across the whole species; distribution between fruit, stem and leaf varies
Together with 25 sesquiterpenes, these make up the 54 terpenoids catalogued for Ficus pumila as a whole. Cycloartane and euphane triterpenoids together with two sterols have been reported specifically from a methanolic extract of the fruit. They are the presumed carriers of the anti-inflammatory activity attributed to the plant, but none has been tested in the fruit drug at clinical doses.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Photosensitising drugs (doxycycline, amiodarone, voriconazole, methoxsalen) and UVA exposure
Ficus pumila contains bergapten in all analysed parts and psoralen in the roots. A published case describes a 54-year-old man who developed phytophotodermatitis after trimming a wall of Ficus pumila, with features that suggested a photoallergic rather than purely phototoxic reaction. Furocoumarins are activated by UVA (320-400 nm) and act by the same mechanism exploited therapeutically in PUVA. Adding a systemic photosensitising drug, or PUVA itself, is additive. The documented hazard is from contact with fresh sap during handling and harvesting; whether the dried decocted fruit delivers enough furocoumarin systemically to matter has not been studied.
Clinical note: Warn anyone handling or harvesting the fresh plant to cover skin and avoid sun afterwards. If a patient is on a photosensitising drug or receiving phototherapy, avoid topical preparations of this herb and note that oral exposure is unquantified.
Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang (jelly fig, aiyu) sold as the medicinal fruit
Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang is a Taiwanese variety cropped commercially for aiyu jelly. It is a distinct botanical variety, not the type variety that supplies the TCM drug, and it is the variety used in most of the modern hypoglycaemic, anti-obesity and pectin research that is loosely cited under the name Ficus pumila. Its achenes are processed as a food, and a bulk supply of jelly-fig achenes is chemically and economically a quite different article from the dried medicinal syconium.
Clinical note: When reading modern evidence for this herb, check whether the study material was var. awkeotsang. If it was, the finding does not transfer to the medicinal fruit without qualification.
Bi Li Luo / Ficus pumila stem and leaf (Caulis Fici Pumilae) supplied as the fruit
The stems and leaves of Ficus pumila are a separate traditional article used as a tonic and for fever, while the fruit (Fructus or Receptaculum Fici Pumilae) is the drug indicated here. The published phytochemistry splits cleanly by part: the pumilaside sesquiterpenoid glucosides come from the fruit, while the antioxidant flavonoid glycosides (rutin, apigenin 6-neohesperidoside, kaempferol 3-robinobioside, kaempferol 3-rutinoside) and the new biphenyl compound come from leaves and stems respectively.
Clinical note: The fruit should arrive as a dried pear-shaped or obovoid syconium, often halved to show the achene mass. Chopped woody vine material is the wrong article.
Ficus latex allergy (Ficus benjamina sensitisation, latex-fruit syndrome)
Ficus species exude a proteolytic milky latex, and sensitisation to Ficus benjamina latex is an established occupational and indoor allergy that cross-reacts within the latex-fruit group. No case of allergy specifically to Ficus pumila fruit has been published, so this is extrapolation from the genus and should be treated as unproven.
Clinical note: Ask about Ficus houseplant or natural rubber latex allergy before first use, particularly for any preparation using fresh plant material.
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 4 studiesRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
1
0 verified · 1 unverified
In vitro / animal
3
0 verified · 3 unverified
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Three New Sesquiterpenoid Glucosides of Ficus pumila Fruit.
Phytochemical isolation from the glycoside fraction of Ficus pumila fruit yielded three previously undescribed sesquiterpenoid glucosides, named pumilasides A, B and C, together with benzyl beta-D-glucopyranoside, (E)-2-methyl-2-butenyl beta-D-glucopyranoside and rutin. This is the primary chemical description of the fruit drug itself rather than of the leaf or stem, and it is what allows the fruit to be distinguished chemically from other parts of the same vine. No biological testing was performed.
Potential curing and beneficial effects of Ooitabi (Ficus pumila L.) on hypertension and dyslipidaemia in Okinawa
Outpatients screened in Okinawa were given Ishimaki tea, a traditional Okinawan preparation of Ficus pumila LEAVES, and followed for effects on blood pressure and lipids. Important qualification for this monograph: the intervention was a leaf tea, not the fruit drug Bi Li, and the design was a small single-arm clinical verification test in a self-selected group rather than a randomised controlled trial. It is evidence about Ficus pumila leaf, and should not be quoted as evidence that the fruit lowers blood pressure.
Antioxidant flavonoid glycosides from the leaves of Ficus pumila L.
Four flavonoid glycosides were isolated from Ficus pumila leaves and identified as rutin, apigenin 6-neohesperidoside, kaempferol 3-robinobioside and kaempferol 3-rutinoside. Rutin showed the strongest activity in DPPH radical-scavenging and superoxide inhibition assays. Aqueous extraction, as used domestically, recovered adequate flavonoid glycoside, though 50% aqueous ethanol was about twice as efficient. Leaf material, not the fruit drug.
Chemical constituents from the stem of Ficus pumila
A new biphenyl compound, 5-aldehyde-4'-hydroxy-2,2'-dimethoxybiphenyl, together with 11 known phenolic compounds, was isolated from the stem of Ficus pumila. Establishes that the stem has its own phenolic profile distinct from both leaf and fruit, which is directly relevant to detecting stem material substituted for fruit.
Historical Texts
Ben Cao Shi Yi
Tang dynasty, compiled by Chen Cangqi c. 739 CEBen Cao Gang Mu
Ming dynasty, 1596References
- Marius Rademaker, Jose G. B. Derraik. Phytophotodermatitis caused by Ficus pumila . Contact Dermatitis (2012) [DOI]
- Zhi-Yong Qi, Jia-Ying Zhao, Fang-Jun Lin, Wan-Lai Zhou, Ren-You Gan. Bioactive Compounds, Therapeutic Activities, and Applications of Ficus pumila L. . Agronomy (2021) [DOI]
- Junichi Kitajima, Kaoru Kimizuka, Masanobu Arai, Yasuko Tanaka. Constituents of Ficus pumila Leaves. . Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (1998) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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