She Fu Zi
StarTetrastigma hemsleyanum Diels et Gilg
Traditionally used for
- Pain & joints
- Skin
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Young children
- Allergy risk
☯ TCM Properties
Disperses Wind; Unblocks the Channels and Collaterals; Alleviates Pain; Resolves Toxicity
Traditional Chinese Uses
She Fu Zi (Pallas pit viper) is a warm, toxic animal-derived substance used in Chinese medicine for deep-seated, stubborn joint and muscle pain from Wind-Cold-Damp bi obstruction. It is used when the pathogen has penetrated deeply into the channels and sinew, causing severe pain, numbness, and restricted movement that resists plant-based herbs. It also addresses chronic scaly skin conditions and scrofula from Wind-Damp-Cold obstruction in the channels. Due to its toxicity, it is used in small doses as a medicinal wine or dried powder under professional supervision.
Relationships
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Botanical Description
She Fu Zi (also Bai Hua She or Qi She depending on tradition) is the dried body of the Pallas pit viper, Agkistrodon halys (Viperidae, subfamily Crotalinae), a venomous pit viper native to grasslands and rocky slopes from the Caspian region through Mongolia, Siberia, and northern China. Adults reach 50-80 cm in length, with a stocky body, broad triangular head, vertically elliptical pupils, and a heat-sensing pit between eye and nostril. Dorsal coloration is grey-brown with dark transverse bars. After capture the venom glands are excised, the snake is gutted, coiled, and dried. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, She Fu Zi is sweet, salty, and warm, entering the Liver channel, used to expel wind, unblock channels, and arrest spasms in stubborn bi syndromes and stroke sequelae. (Sources: Wikipedia; Chen Chinese Medical Herbology)
Active Constituents
Muscle and connective-tissue protein, collagen and free amino acids
Structural proteins and amino acidsConcentration: The bulk of the drug; the article is the whole snake with the viscera removed, sun-dried and sliced, so it is essentially a dried animal carcass
These carry no established pharmacology of their own but they are the reason the drug is an intact foreign-protein preparation. Any dried whole-animal drug is a plausible source of ingested protein allergen, and this is the safety consideration that dominates the material.
Snake venom thrombin-like serine proteases
Snake venom serine proteinasesConcentration: Venom-gland constituents; present in the head, and therefore only in preparations in which the head is retained
In the venom of this species these enzymes cleave fibrinogen, releasing fibrinopeptide B first and fibrinopeptide A later, and they are the active principle of the licensed Chinese injectable Hemocoagulase Agkistrodon halys pallas. That pharmacology belongs to a purified parenteral venom fraction, not to the oral dried snake, in which such proteins would be denatured by drying and digested in the gut. It is recorded here because it explains why the species name attaches to a coagulation-active drug.
L-amino acid oxidase, phosphatases and hyaluronidase
Venom enzymesConcentration: Minor venom-gland constituents reported alongside the thrombin-like enzymes in venom of this species
Venom accessory enzymes with no demonstrated activity after oral administration of the dried drug. Listed to make the point that the venom apparatus is part of the animal and is not necessarily discarded during processing.
Snake venom metalloproteinases and phospholipases A2
Venom metalloproteinases and phospholipasesConcentration: Major venom protein families across the genus Gloydius, characterised in comparative venom proteomic work on Gloydius species
Haemorrhagic and tissue-damaging venom components responsible for the local swelling and coagulopathy of a bite from this snake. They are relevant to handling and to any parenteral or mucosal exposure, not to a decoction.
Lipids and fatty acids of the carcass
Triacylglycerols and free fatty acidsConcentration: Reported as a constituent class of the dried body in the Chinese materia medica literature, without a consistent published assay
No specific pharmacology has been established for the lipid fraction of this drug. It is noted because fat-rich dried animal material is prone to rancidity and to microbial and mite infestation in storage.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Warfarin, direct oral anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs
The venom of this species is the source of licensed coagulation-active medicines: Hemocoagulase Agkistrodon halys pallas for injection, and the defibrinogenating agent defibrase, which was one of the two agents tested in the Cochrane review of fibrinogen depleting agents in acute ischaemic stroke. Those are purified parenteral venom fractions. Orally administered dried snake is a different article, and there is no published evidence that a decoction or powder of the whole dried body alters coagulation in humans. The theoretical concern is confined to preparations retaining the head and venom glands taken by a patient with mucosal ulceration.
Clinical note: Do not extrapolate the injectable venom-enzyme labelling to this herb. Equally, if a patient on an anticoagulant is taking a snake product, establish whether it is a decoction herb or a venom-derived injectable, because the two share a species name and nothing else.
Whole dried snake taken as an ingested animal protein
The drug is an unheated, unfractionated dried animal, so the patient ingests the animal's full protein complement. No case series of anaphylaxis specifically to Corpus Agkistrodontis appears in the indexed literature, and that absence should be read as absence of study rather than absence of risk: animal contact including snakes is a recognised, if uncommon, trigger of occupational anaphylaxis, and no allergen characterisation has been done for this drug.
Clinical note: Take a history of animal-protein and reptile-contact allergy before prescribing. Start at the low end of the range, warn the patient about urticaria, lip or throat swelling and wheeze, and stop at the first sign of any of these. Avoid in a patient with a history of unexplained anaphylaxis.
Substituted or counterfeit medicinal snake material
Substitution in the Chinese medicinal snake trade is common and has been measured. In a species-specific PCR survey of the related pharmacopoeial snake drug, eighteen samples of Agkistrodon acutus bought at random in six cities were tested and twelve were counterfeit. A separate barcode and high-resolution melting study collected seventy-three samples spanning four families and thirteen genera in China, and was able to detect a Bungarus fasciatus adulterant in Bungarus multicinctus down to 1.6 percent. Once a snake is skinned, dried and sliced, morphology no longer identifies it, and this species is not in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia at all, so no pharmacopoeial identity test exists for it.
Clinical note: Treat unbranded dried snake as an unidentified article. Prefer suppliers that provide molecular authentication, and do not assume that a package labelled with one snake contains that snake.
Microbial contamination of unheated dried reptile material
Snakes are a well-documented reservoir of Salmonella enterica. A two-year multipathogen surveillance of free-ranging snakes in the southeastern United States detected Salmonella enterica in 62.6 percent of 489 individuals sampled. That figure is from wild North American snakes rather than Chinese medicinal stock, but it establishes carriage rates in the host animal, and a sun-dried carcass is not a heat-sterilised product. Powders taken directly, rather than decocted, bypass the only step that would reliably kill vegetative organisms.
Clinical note: Prefer decoction over raw powder wherever the prescription allows it. Avoid raw powdered snake entirely in immunocompromised patients, in pregnancy and in young children.
Wildlife protection and trade restrictions on medicinal snakes
Gloydius halys is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and is not on the CITES appendices, so this species is not itself internationally trade-controlled. The surrounding market is restricted, however. China's 2020 decision banning consumption of terrestrial wild animals, and the Wildlife Protection Law revision in force from 1 May 2023, left an explicit exemption for medicinal use, so demand persists while wild supply is squeezed, which is exactly the pressure that drives substitution. Some snakes that turn up as substitutes in this trade are controlled: Ptyas mucosa has been on CITES Appendix II since 1990.
Clinical note: Verify the legal position for your own jurisdiction before importing or dispensing any dried snake, and be aware that a substituted article can carry a CITES problem that the labelled species does not.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| not established | Not established — see note | — | — | — | No ChP monograph. 蛇附子 is the dried tuber of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum (三叶青), a Vitaceae vine — cool, slightly bitter, non-toxic, used to clear heat and toxicity. Recorded in 中药志 and 全国中草药汇编 but NOT in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, so no pharmacopoeial dose is given here. CORRECTION: this record previously carried the scientific name Agkistrodon halys — a pit viper — which belongs to a different drug entirely. The species field has been corrected. |
Evidence Tier
Strong 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
1
0 verified · 1 unverified
Show the study
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
3
1 verified · 2 unverified
Show 3 studies
- Development of a species-specific PCR assay for authentication of Agkistrodon acutus based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene
- Rapid identification of common medicinal snakes and their adulterants using the Bar-HRM analysis method
- A Species-Specific Strategy for the Identification of Hemocoagulase Agkistrodon halys pallas Based on LC-MS/MS-MRM
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
Fibrinogen depleting agents for acute ischaemic stroke
Systematic review of eight randomised trials in 5701 patients with acute ischaemic stroke; six tested ancrod and two tested defibrase, a proteolytic enzyme preparation from the venom of this snake. Fibrinogen depleting agents marginally reduced the proportion dead or disabled at end of follow-up (risk ratio 0.95, 95 percent confidence interval 0.90 to 0.99) with fewer stroke recurrences and no significant difference in all-cause death. This is evidence about a purified parenteral venom enzyme and says nothing about the dried snake taken by mouth; it is included to keep the two apart.
Development of a species-specific PCR assay for authentication of Agkistrodon acutus based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene
Cytochrome b sequences of the target snake and nine others were compared to design species-specific primers, and the assay was applied to market material. Of eighteen samples of the drug bought at random in six cities, twelve were counterfeit and six genuine. The direct subject is the related pharmacopoeial snake drug rather than Gloydius halys, but it is the best available quantification of substitution rates in the Chinese medicinal snake trade.
Rapid identification of common medicinal snakes and their adulterants using the Bar-HRM analysis method
Seventy-three snake samples from four families and thirteen genera were collected in China, comprising the common medicinal snakes and their adulterants. Cytochrome oxidase I barcoding distinguished all samples, and coupling a mini-barcode to high-resolution melting detected a Bungarus fasciatus adulterant in Bungarus multicinctus at concentrations as low as 1.6 percent. It demonstrates both the scale of adulteration and that molecular authentication is technically routine.
A Species-Specific Strategy for the Identification of Hemocoagulase Agkistrodon halys pallas Based on LC-MS/MS-MRM
Transcriptomics and proteomics were combined to predict species-specific peptides of this snake, and a marker peptide was quantified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode, giving a species identity test for the injectable venom product. The paper documents that venom-derived preparations from different snakes have different structures, functions and haemostatic mechanisms, and that species identity in snake-derived medicines therefore has to be proved rather than assumed.
Historical Texts
Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen, scale section, second scale chapter, seventeen kinds of snake
Ming dynasty, 1596Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, animal drugs
Modern, 2020 editionReferences
- IUCN. Gloydius halys: Tuniyev, B., Ananjeva, N.B., Aghasyan, A., Orlov, N.L., Tuniyev, S., Anderson, S., Nilson, G., Borkin, L., Milto, K., Golynsky, E., Rustamov, A, Nuridjanov, D., Munkhbayar, K. & Litvinchuk, S. . IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2021) [DOI]
- Mishin CM, Farrell TM, Palmisano JN, Ossiboff RJ, McCray M, Haynes E, Maerz JC, Meichner K, Zhang J, Garrett KB, Yabsley MJ, Ortega J, Cleveland CA, Nemeth NM. Health assessment and multipathogen surveillance of free-ranging snakes in the southeastern United States . Frontiers in Veterinary Science (2026) [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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