Di Fu Zi
StarKochia scoparia (L.) Schrad.
Traditionally used for
- Urinary & fluids
- Skin
☯ TCM Properties
Clears Heat and Drains Dampness; Promotes Urination and Relieves Stranguria; Dispels Wind and Stops Itching
Traditional Chinese Uses
Di Fu Zi (broom cypress fruit, kochia fruit) is a cold herb used in Chinese medicine primarily to drain Damp-Heat from the Bladder and skin. It relieves itching and burning from Damp-Heat skin conditions — including eczema, genital itching, and urticaria — both when used topically as a wash and when taken internally. Its diuretic action also addresses urinary burning, painful urination, and fluid retention from Damp-Heat accumulation in the lower burner.
Pharmacological Effects
- Antifungal: 1:3 aqueous extract inhibited skin fungi incl. Achorion schoenleini and Microsporum audouini (in vitro).
Source: Zhu YP. Chinese Materia Medica: Chemistry, Pharmacology and Applications. Harwood Academic, 1998, p. 339.
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Bassia scoparia (syn. Kochia scoparia), summer cypress or burningbush, is a much-branched annual herb of the family Amaranthaceae (formerly Chenopodiaceae) native to temperate Eurasia and widely naturalised — often as a noxious weed — across North America, Australia and elsewhere. It forms a dense, pyramidal to ovoid bush 50-150 cm tall with slender, finely striate green to reddish stems and numerous narrow, linear to lanceolate sessile leaves 2-5 cm long, light green in summer and turning vivid red in autumn. Inconspicuous greenish, sessile, perfect or pistillate flowers without true petals are borne singly or in small clusters in the upper leaf axils, the perianth developing five short, transverse, membranous wings in fruit. The fruit is a small, depressed-globose utricle 1-3 mm wide containing a single flattened blackish seed.
Active Constituents
Momordin Ic
Oleanane-type triterpenoid saponinConcentration: Principal saponin and quality-control marker; reported at 0.21-0.83 percent across four marketed Kochiae Fructus samples
The dominant bioactive saponin of the dried fruit, responsible for most of the anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and anti-pruritic activity attributed to the drug; it also inhibits glucose uptake in the small intestine in vitro.
Oleanolic acid
Pentacyclic triterpenoidConcentration: Quantified alongside momordin Ic in the fruit; aglycone of the fruit's saponin glycosides
Suppressed nitric oxide and inflammatory cytokine production in LPS-stimulated macrophages from concentrations around 6.25 micromolar.
20-Hydroxyecdysone
PhytoecdysteroidConcentration: One of three markers routinely quantified in the fruit by HPLC
Contributes to the fruit's in vitro anti-inflammatory activity, suppressing inflammatory mediator release in LPS-stimulated macrophage cultures.
Kochianosides I, II, III and IV
Oleanane-type triterpenoid saponinsConcentration: Minor saponin glycosides characterised from the Chinese drug
Structurally related congeners of momordin Ic isolated from Chinese Kochiae Fructus; they define the saponin fingerprint used to distinguish authentic material.
Quercetin and isorhamnetin glycosides
Flavonol glycosidesConcentration: Thirteen flavonoids reported; concentrated in the ethyl acetate fraction of the water decoction, which assays 329.6 mg rutin equivalents per gram total flavonoid
Account for most of the radical-scavenging and ferric-reducing antioxidant capacity of the decoction, which tracks flavonoid and phenolic content across fractions.
Linoleic acid
Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acidConcentration: Most abundant single component of the fruit's fatty-oil fraction
The principal fatty acid of the seed-bearing fruit; nutritionally significant but not thought to carry the drug's anti-pruritic action.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Insulin and oral hypoglycaemic agents (sulfonylureas, metformin, acarbose)
The n-butanol (saponin-rich) fraction of Kochiae Fructus inhibited gastric emptying and reduced intestinal glucose absorption in mice at 25 mg/kg, and momordin Ic inhibits glucose uptake in the small intestine in vitro. The mechanism overlaps directly with that of acarbose. Evidence is preclinical only; no human interaction study exists.
Clinical note: Monitor capillary glucose when Di Fu Zi is added to a stable antidiabetic regimen, particularly in patients on sulfonylureas or insulin, and warn about hypoglycaemia symptoms.
Photosensitising drugs (tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, thiazide diuretics, amiodarone, St John's wort)
Range cattle grazing Kochia scoparia develop hepatogenous (secondary) photosensitisation together with polioencephalomalacia, and the syndrome is attributed to the plant's saponins and alkaloids acting with accumulated oxalate and nitrate to produce centrilobular hepatic necrosis. This is a whole-plant forage toxicosis at very large chronic intakes, and the plant part involved is the aerial herb, not the dried fruit (Kochiae Fructus) that constitutes the drug Di Fu Zi. Formal oral safety studies of the fruit found no toxicity: the water decoction produced no haematological, biochemical, organ-weight or histopathological change in 14-day acute and 28-day subacute tests, and the ethanolic extract had an LD50 of 6000 mg/kg with a NOAEL of 600 mg/kg.
Clinical note: No case of photosensitivity from pharmacopoeial Di Fu Zi has been reported; do not overstate it. Still worth mentioning to patients already on a photosensitising drug who are taking long courses or large doses, and to anyone using the fresh aerial plant rather than the fruit.
Hepatotoxic drugs (paracetamol, methotrexate, isoniazid) at supratherapeutic herb doses
Acute oral toxicity testing gives an LD50 of 7.15 g/kg for the water extract in mice and 6000 mg/kg for the ethanolic extract, and animal deaths were observed only at very large doses; the fruit is otherwise classified as practically non-toxic. Momordin Ic is pro-apoptotic in HepG2 hepatoma cells at 5-20 micromolar, a concentration unlikely to be reached from an oral decoction. The published toxicology base is thin, and the major review states explicitly that toxicity research on this drug is insufficient.
Clinical note: Keep to the pharmacopoeial 6-15 g decocted daily. Absence of a signal in short-term rodent studies is not evidence of long-term safety, so review liver function if the herb is used continuously alongside a known hepatotoxic drug.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 9–15 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】9～15g。外用适量，煎汤熏洗。 【性味与归经】辛、苦，寒。归肾、膀胱经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 8 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
0
In vitro / animal
8
6 verified · 2 unverified
Show 8 studies
- Topical application of Kochia scoparia inhibits the development of contact dermatitis in mice
- Anti-inflammatory activity of Kochia scoparia fruit on contact dermatitis in mice
- The Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Fructus Kochiae on Allergic Contact Dermatitis Rats via pERK1/2/TLR4/NF-κB Pathway Activation
- Studies on Kochiae Fructus IV. Anti-Allergic Effects of 70% Ethanol Extract and Its Component, Momordin Ic from Dried Fruits of Kochia scoparia L.
- Studies on Kochiae Fructus III. Antinociceptive and Antiinflammatory Effects of 70% Ethanol Extract and Its Component, Momordin Ic from Dried Fruits of Kochia scoparia L.
- Kochia scoparia Saponin Momordin Ic Modulates HaCaT Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis via the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway
- Kochiae Fructus: Evaluation on the antioxidant properties and oral safety of its water decoction
- Evaluation on the traditional safe use of Kochiae Fructus oriented by antioxidant properties and oral safety of its ethanolic extract
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
Topical application of Kochia scoparia inhibits the development of contact dermatitis in mice
Topical Kochia scoparia water extract applied to a 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene-induced contact dermatitis model in mice reduced ear thickness and weight, epidermal acanthosis and spongiosis, and immune cell infiltration. An animal study of the topical route, not of the oral decoction.
Anti-inflammatory activity of Kochia scoparia fruit on contact dermatitis in mice
An extract of the fruit specifically (not the whole plant) reduced inflammatory change in a murine contact dermatitis model, supporting the traditional use of Di Fu Zi for itching skin. Preclinical only.
The Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Fructus Kochiae on Allergic Contact Dermatitis Rats via pERK1/2/TLR4/NF-κB Pathway Activation
In a rat model of allergic contact dermatitis, Fructus Kochiae reduced inflammatory readouts with changes in pERK1/2, TLR4 and NF-κB signalling. Animal study; no human data.
Studies on Kochiae Fructus IV. Anti-Allergic Effects of 70% Ethanol Extract and Its Component, Momordin Ic from Dried Fruits of Kochia scoparia L.
The 70 percent ethanol extract of the dried fruit and its saponin momordin Ic inhibited the effector phase of picryl-chloride-induced contact dermatitis, a type IV allergic model, in mice. One of the primary sources for the drug's anti-allergic reputation.
Studies on Kochiae Fructus III. Antinociceptive and Antiinflammatory Effects of 70% Ethanol Extract and Its Component, Momordin Ic from Dried Fruits of Kochia scoparia L.
Companion paper showing antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activity of the fruit's 70 percent ethanol extract and of momordin Ic in rodent models, with the extract active around 200 mg/kg in carrageenan-induced oedema.
Kochia scoparia Saponin Momordin Ic Modulates HaCaT Cell Proliferation and Apoptosis via the Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway
Momordin Ic inhibited proliferation and promoted apoptosis in HaCaT keratinocytes by altering β-catenin nuclear distribution; the Wnt activator LiCl partially reversed the effect. Offered as a mechanistic rationale for use in psoriasis, but it is a single cell-line study.
Kochiae Fructus: Evaluation on the antioxidant properties and oral safety of its water decoction
The water decoction, the form actually used clinically, caused no significant change in clinical signs, haematology, biochemistry, organ weights or histopathology in 14-day acute and 28-day subacute studies in mice and rats. Antioxidant activity tracked the flavonoid and phenolic content of the ethyl acetate fraction.
Evaluation on the traditional safe use of Kochiae Fructus oriented by antioxidant properties and oral safety of its ethanolic extract
Acute and 28-day subacute oral toxicity testing of the ethanolic extract gave an LD50 of 6000 mg/kg body weight and a no-observed-adverse-effect level of 600 mg/kg, placing the extract in the practically non-toxic class.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
Contraindications
Its use is prohibited in patients with profuse urine and no internal damp-heat.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 146–150.
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Husbandman's Classic of Materia Medica)
Han dynasty, c. 200 CEBen Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen
Ming dynasty, 1596References
- Zou W, Tang Z, Long Y, Xiao Z, Ouyang B, Liu M. Kochiae Fructus, the Fruit of Common Potherb Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad: A Review on Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, Quality Control, and Pharmacokinetics . Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2021) [DOI]
- Seo CS, Yoo SR, Jeong SJ, Lee NR, Shin HK. Quantification analysis and In vitro anti-inflammatory effects of 20-hydroxyecdysone, momordin ic, and oleanolic acid from the fructus of Kochia scoparia . Pharmacognosy Magazine (2017) [DOI]
- Yoshikawa M, Dai Y, Shimada H, Morikawa T, Matsumura N, Yoshizumi S, Matsuda H, Matsuda H, Kubo M. Studies on Kochiae Fructus. II. On the Saponin Constituents from the Fruit of Chinese Kochia scoparia (Chenopodiaceae): Chemical Structures of Kochianosides I, II, III, and IV. . Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (1997) [DOI]
- Dickie CW, Berryman JR. Polioencephalomalacia and Photosensitization Associated with Kochia scoparia Consumption in Range Cattle . Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1979) [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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