Hai Jin Sha
StarLygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw.
Traditionally used for
- Bowel health
- Urinary & fluids
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Kidney conditions
☯ TCM Properties
Clears Damp-Heat; Promotes Urination and Relieves Stranguria; Expels Urinary Stones; Promotes Urination and Reduces Edema
Traditional Chinese Uses
Hai Jin Sha (lygodium spores, climbing fern spores) is a cold herb used in Chinese medicine to clear Damp-Heat from the Bladder and clear obstruction from urinary stones. It is one of the primary herbs for painful urinary conditions from stone obstruction or Damp-Heat — including hematuria, burning and painful urination, and urinary sand or gravel. It also clears Damp-Heat from the Large Intestine for bloody dysentery. Its name, meaning "golden sand of the sea," describes the appearance of its tiny spores.
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Lygodium japonicum is a slender climbing fern in the Lygodiaceae, native to East and Southeast Asia and naturalised in the southeastern United States, where it is regarded as an invasive weed. Unlike most ferns it has an indeterminate, twining rachis that functions as a climbing stem and can reach 3-5 m or more by twining over surrounding vegetation. The compound fronds bear opposite, palmately or pinnately lobed sterile pinnules with shallowly toothed margins. Fertile pinnules are narrower and deeply dissected into finger-like lobes whose margins are rolled to form double rows of marginal sporangia, producing abundant fine, light yellow-brown spores. These dried ripe spores, shaken from the fertile fronds in late summer and autumn, constitute the medicinal Hai Jin Sha.
Active Constituents
Sporopollenin spore wall
Cross-linked polymeric biopolymer of the spore exineConcentration: The structural bulk of the drug, which is whole spores rather than an extract
The drug is a mass of intact spores, and their exine determines almost everything practical about it. The wall is hydrophobic, so genuine material floats when scattered on water, and it is combustible in a way that lets loose spore powder flash upward violently when sprinkled onto a flame. Both properties are used as bench identity tests in Chinese quality-control practice, and both are lost when the material is adulterated with mineral powder. The same robust hollow shell has been exploited as a ready-made microcapsule: spores of this drug loaded with doxorubicin and iron oxide were used as magnetically steered microrobots in a mouse bladder cancer model. As dry powder in bulk it is a dust-fire hazard.
trans-p-Coumaric acid
Hydroxycinnamic acidConcentration: Reported from the spores in Chinese phytochemical surveys; no pharmacopoeial content limit
One of the phenolic acids consistently reported from the spores and used as a fingerprint constituent. No specific pharmacological role in this drug has been demonstrated, and it is not the basis for any of the activity described in the animal or cell studies below.
Caffeic acid
Hydroxycinnamic acidConcentration: Reported from the spores alongside p-coumaric acid
A common plant phenolic reported from the spores. As with p-coumaric acid it functions here as a chemical marker rather than a documented active principle of the drug.
Ethanol-soluble flavonoid and phenolic fraction of the spores
Mixed flavonoid and phenolic fractionConcentration: Active in murine macrophages at 50 to 300 micrograms per millilitre without cytotoxicity
This is the fraction with reproducible in vitro pharmacology specific to the spores. In lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages it suppressed nitric oxide and tumour necrosis factor alpha across 50 to 300 micrograms per millilitre and interleukin 6 only above 200, downregulated inducible nitric oxide synthase messenger RNA and protein without affecting cyclooxygenase 2, and acted by stabilising inhibitor of kappa B alpha and inhibiting p38 MAPK.
Ethanol-soluble antilithic fraction of the spores
Mixed ethanol extractivesConcentration: Active in rats at 400 milligrams per kilogram in drinking water
The fraction responsible for the effect on stone formation in animals. Given from day zero in ethylene glycol-treated rats it lowered urinary calcium, oxalate and uric acid and raised urinary citrate; given from day 28 it changed only oxalate and citrate. In both protocols it reduced kidney peroxide levels, renal calcium and oxalate content and the number of oxalate deposits. This is a rodent result at a dose well above ordinary human exposure and has not been reproduced in people.
Lygodium japonicum polysaccharide
Heteropolysaccharide of glucose, galacturonic acid, glucuronic acid, galactose, rhamnose and arabinoseConcentration: Molecular weight about 12.9 kilodaltons in the purified hot-water fraction
A 12.9 kilodalton polysaccharide with a mainly 1,4-linked alpha-D-glucan backbone adsorbs selectively onto the high-energy crystal face of calcium oxalate monohydrate, shrinking crystals and shifting them toward the less adherent dihydrate form, and it reduced crystal adhesion, endocytosis, oxidative stress and renal injury in cells and rats. Important caveat: the source paper identifies the material only as Lygodium japonicum and does not state which part was extracted, so this should not be assumed to be a property of the spore drug specifically.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Adulterant mineral powders (finely ground red brick and red clay)
Because this drug is a loose brown-yellow powder sold by weight, it is among the most heavily adulterated items in the Chinese market. The documented method is to grind red brick or red earth to a fine powder and blend it in; colour, texture and appearance are close enough that the fraud passes visual inspection. The adulterated material is heavier, feels gritty rather than smooth between the fingers, leaves yellow-brown residue on the hand, sinks partly when scattered on water instead of floating, shows glinting mineral specks when pressed flat on white paper against the light, and grates between the teeth. A patient is then taking brick dust, with whatever heavy metal content the source clay carried, and none of the drug. Paper spray miniature mass spectrometry has been developed specifically to detect sand adulteration of this herb, alongside distinguishing plant parts and Lygodium species.
Clinical note: Apply the float test to every consignment: genuine spores float on water and any sinking fraction indicates adulteration. The ignition test is confirmatory but the powder flashes violently, so it is a bench test done with a small quantity and appropriate care, not a routine dispensary habit. Reject gritty or unusually heavy material.
Hai Jin Sha Cao (the aerial part) and Hai Jin Sha Gen (the root of the same fern)
Three separate drugs are taken from this fern: the mature spores, which is what this record describes, the aerial parts, and the root and rhizome. Their chemistry differs; new naphthoquinones, ecdysteroids, steroidal glycosides and phenolic glycosides have been described from the root, and separate phenylpropanoid glucosides from the aerial parts, none of which are spore constituents. Li Shizhen already noted in 1596 that both the spores and the herb are used, so the ambiguity is inherent in the name rather than modern. Mass spectrometric quality methods for this herb are explicitly designed to distinguish the parts because the market does not reliably do so.
Clinical note: Specify spores when ordering. Do not read root or aerial-part pharmacology as evidence for the spore drug, and do not substitute one part for another on the assumption they are the same medicine.
Other Lygodium species (Lygodium microphyllum, Lygodium flexuosum, Lygodium scandens)
Several Lygodium species produce visually indistinguishable spore powder and circulate regionally. The pharmacopoeial drug is Lygodium japonicum only, and the analytical methods developed for this herb list species discrimination among the quality problems they are meant to solve, which indicates the substitution occurs. The evidence base summarised in this record is for Lygodium japonicum and has not been established for the congeners.
Clinical note: Require the binomial on the certificate of analysis. Treat spore powder of unstated species as unidentified material.
Potassium citrate and thiazide diuretics used for stone prevention
In ethylene glycol-treated rats the spore extract lowered urinary calcium, oxalate and uric acid and raised urinary citrate. Potassium citrate is prescribed to raise urinary citrate and thiazides to lower urinary calcium, so the herb pushes the same variables in the same direction. Whether it does so measurably in humans at ordinary doses is unknown, since no human pharmacodynamic or clinical study of this drug was located.
Clinical note: If a metabolic stone-former on citrate or a thiazide takes this herb, base decisions on repeat 24-hour urine chemistry rather than on the assumption that the herbal contribution is zero or that it is equivalent to a dose of citrate.
Other loose powdered drugs dispensed by weight (Pu Huang, Qing Dai)
This drug belongs to a small group of Chinese drugs supplied as fine loose powder rather than as recognisable plant fragments, along with Typha pollen (Pu Huang) and indigo powder (Qing Dai). All three are identified in Chinese quality-control literature as targets of the same weight-adding fraud, using maize flour, yellow earth or mineral powder, and all three are checked by the same float and feel tests. Powders in unlabelled dispensary jars are also more easily interchanged than whole drugs.
Clinical note: Keep powdered drugs in labelled, sealed containers and apply the float test on receipt. Do not judge these drugs by colour alone.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 6–15 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】6～15g，包煎。 【性味与归经】甘、咸，寒。归膀胱、小肠经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 5 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
5
2 verified · 3 unverified
Show 5 studies
- The inhibitory effect of an ethanol extract of the spores of Lygodium japonicum on ethylene glycol-induced kidney calculi in rats
- Anti-inflammatory effects on murine macrophages of ethanol extracts of Lygodium japonicum spores via inhibition of NF-κB and p38
- Structural characterization of polysaccharides from Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw. and its inhibition ability in calcium oxalate renal stone
- Rapid quality evaluation of Chinese herbal medicines using a miniature mass spectrometer: Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw. as an example
- Magnetic-Powered Spora Lygodii Microrobots Loaded with Doxorubicin for Active and Targeted Therapy of Bladder Cancer
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
The inhibitory effect of an ethanol extract of the spores of Lygodium japonicum on ethylene glycol-induced kidney calculi in rats
The one animal study located that is unambiguously on the spores. Male Wistar rats received 0.75 percent ethylene glycol in drinking water to induce calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis, with an ethanol extract of Lygodii spora at 400 milligrams per kilogram given either from day zero (preventive, 28 days, n equals 18) or from day 28 (therapeutic, 42 days, n equals 24). The preventive protocol lowered urinary calcium, oxalate and uric acid and raised urinary citrate; the therapeutic protocol changed only oxalate and citrate. Both protocols reduced kidney peroxides, renal calcium and oxalate content and the number of oxalate deposits on histology. Rodent doses and a chemically induced model; it does not establish a human effect.
Anti-inflammatory effects on murine macrophages of ethanol extracts of Lygodium japonicum spores via inhibition of NF-κB and p38
Ethanol extract of the spores, at non-cytotoxic 50 to 300 micrograms per millilitre, suppressed nitric oxide and tumour necrosis factor alpha production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages and suppressed interleukin 6 only at 200 micrograms per millilitre and above. The fall in nitric oxide tracked reduced inducible nitric oxide synthase messenger RNA and protein, while cyclooxygenase 2 expression was unchanged. Mechanistically the extract stabilised inhibitor of kappa B alpha and inhibited p38 MAPK. Cell culture only.
Structural characterization of polysaccharides from Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw. and its inhibition ability in calcium oxalate renal stone
A 12.9 kilodalton polysaccharide purified by hot-water extraction, composed of glucose, galacturonic and glucuronic acids, galactose, rhamnose and arabinose with a mainly 1,4-linked alpha-D-glucan backbone, adsorbed onto the high-energy crystal face of calcium oxalate monohydrate, reduced crystal size, promoted conversion to the dihydrate, and inhibited crystal adhesion and endocytosis. It accumulated in rat kidney, reduced crystal formation and renal injury in vivo, and outperformed potassium citrate on crystal form and cytoprotection in the model. The paper does not state which part of the plant the polysaccharide came from, so it cannot be assumed to describe the spore drug.
Rapid quality evaluation of Chinese herbal medicines using a miniature mass spectrometer: Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw. as an example
A paper spray ionisation miniature tandem mass spectrometry method quantifying nine constituents of this herb, validated against reference standards and quality control samples. Its practical value here is what it was built to catch: whether a sample is adulterated with sand, and which plant part and which Lygodium species it actually is. It documents that all three of those quality failures occur in the market for this drug.
Magnetic-Powered Spora Lygodii Microrobots Loaded with Doxorubicin for Active and Targeted Therapy of Bladder Cancer
Spores of this drug were dip-coated with iron oxide nanoparticles and doxorubicin and steered by a rotating magnetic field in an orthotopic mouse bladder cancer model, giving longer bladder retention, prolonged mucosal adherence and greater tumour suppression than controls. Included because it characterises the spore as a physical object rather than as a pharmacological agent: the therapeutic effect here is the doxorubicin, and nothing in the study supports giving the spores by mouth for cancer.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Kidney conditions
Contraindications
Its use is cautious in pregnant women and patients with kidney yin deficiency.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 146–150.
Historical Texts
Jia You Ben Cao, compiled under Zhang Yuxi
Northern Song dynasty, 1057 to 1060Ben Cao Gang Mu, Li Shizhen
Ming dynasty, 1596Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China
Current editionsFlorida Noxious Weed List and Alabama Class B noxious weed list
Modern regulatory status in the United StatesReferences
- Zhu L, Zhang G, Chen L, Wang S, Li P, Li L. A new ecdysteroside from Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw. . Journal of Natural Medicines (2009) [DOI]
- Chen L, Zhang G, He J, Guan J, Pan C, Mi W, Wang Q. New naphthoquinone from the root of Lygodium japonicum (Thunb.) Sw. . Journal of Natural Medicines (2009) [DOI]
- Duan YH, Dai Y, He RR, Kurihara H, Li YL, Yao XS. A new phenylpropanoid glucoside from the aerial parts of Lygodium japonicum . Journal of Asian Natural Products Research (2012) [DOI]
- Han QH, Liu X, Yao WQ, Cheng ZB, Lin TT, Song C, Yin S. Unusual 9,19 : 24,32-Dicyclotetracyclic Triterpenoids from Lygodium japonicum . Planta Medica (2012) [DOI]
- Liu W, Li J, Fan Z, Tong J, Tong Y, Huang H, Zhan R. Comparative analysis of complete chloroplast genomes reveals the phylogenetic relationships of Lygodium Sw. (Lygodiaceae) species in China . BMC Genomics (2026) [DOI]
- Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry. Lygodium japonicum . Florida Noxious Weed List
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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