Honeysuckle: A Comprehensive Overview

This product is the dried flower buds or newly opened flowers of the plant Lonicera japonica (Honeysuckle).

Aliases

Jin Hua, Yin Hua, Jin Yin Hua, Jin Teng Hua, Ren Dong Hua, Shuang Hua, Er Hua, Er Bao Hua

Origin

Mainly produced in Shandong and Henan, cultivated in most regions of the country.

Harvesting and Processing

Harvested in early summer before the flowers bloom, then dried.

Identification

This product is rod-shaped, thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom, slightly curved, 2-3 cm long, with a diameter of about 3 mm at the top and about 1.5 mm at the bottom. The surface is yellowish-white or greenish-white (darkening with prolonged storage), densely covered with short soft hairs. Occasionally, leaf-like bracts are seen.

The calyx is green, with 5 lobes at the tip, hairy lobes about 2 mm long. The open flower has a tubular corolla, with a bilabiate tip; there are 5 stamens attached to the tube wall, yellow; 1 pistil, with a hairless ovary. It has a clear fragrance, with a mild, slightly bitter taste.

Properties and Channels

Sweet, cold. Enters the Lung, Stomach, and Large Intestine meridians.

Characteristics

This product is sweet and cold, clearing and dispersing, primarily entering the Lung and Stomach meridians, and also entering the Large Intestine meridian, serving as a clearing and dispersing agent. It is effective in clearing heat toxins and dispersing wind-heat, suitable for conditions caused by heat toxins or wind-heat.

Functions

Clears heat and detoxifies, disperses wind-heat.

Indications

(1) Externally contracted febrile diseases, wind-heat exterior syndrome.

(2) Abscesses, boils, intestinal abscess, lung abscess, breast abscess.

(3) Heat toxin dysentery.

Dosage

Internal use: decoction, 10-20g; or in pills or powders. For blood dysentery and bloody stools, it is often used charred.

External use: appropriate amount, fresh product pounded for application. It can also be decocted for gargling.

Precautions

This product is cold in nature, thus not suitable for those with Spleen and Stomach deficiency-cold and Qi deficiency sores with clear pus.

Pharmacology

This product has antibacterial, antiviral, anti-endotoxin, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, lipid-lowering, choleretic, hepatoprotective, uterine stimulant, anti-early pregnancy, anti-HIV, and anti-tumor effects.

Story

Legend has it that a long time ago, in a remote village, there lived a hardworking and kind couple. They had a pair of twin daughters, whom they named Jin Hua (Golden Flower) and Yin Hua (Silver Flower).

Jin Hua and Yin Hua grew up under their parents’ care, soon blossoming into beautiful young women. During busy farming seasons, they helped their parents in the fields, and during their free time, they learned embroidery and weaving with their mother, while also studying medical texts and foraging for herbs, earning the admiration of their parents and villagers.

One early summer, an unknown strange disease broke out in the village. All patients experienced fever, high fever that did not subside, and developed rashes or papules all over their bodies; shortly after falling ill, they became bedridden, delirious, and soon passed away.

The village doctors were helpless, and doctors from outside the village dared not enter, leaving the villagers to wait for death. In this critical moment, Jin Hua and Yin Hua stepped forward, volunteering to seek medical help for their fellow villagers.

At that time, their parents also unfortunately fell ill with the same disease. The villagers kindly advised the sisters not to go, fearing they would fail to find a doctor and would be unable to care for their parents in their final moments. The sisters looked troubled.

At this moment, their parents said earnestly, “Go! Good children! You must quickly find a famous doctor or good medicine, otherwise do not return to see us!” With tears in their eyes, Jin Hua and Yin Hua packed their bags and prepared to set off.

The villagers were moved to tears, urging them to seek medical help, while they took turns caring for their parents, so the sisters need not worry.

The sisters traveled through mountains and rivers, crossing numerous dangerous streams and paths, their footsteps almost covering the land of China, visiting famous doctors in the Central Plains, but the doctors either knew nothing about the disease or were unwilling to travel such a long distance.

One day, while passing Huashan, the sisters stayed overnight at an ancient temple. An old monk in the temple asked them why they looked weary and troubled. The sisters told him their story.

The old monk sighed and immediately pointed to the distance outside the window, saying, “Ninety-nine miles from here, there is a high mountain, at the foot of which is a grass shed where an old doctor lives. You might as well go and seek his advice.”

The sisters were overjoyed and immediately set off, reaching the ninety-nine-mile journey in less than an hour, only to find the grass shed surrounded by villagers waiting to see the doctor. Inside the shed, they saw an old man with a youthful face and white hair, wise in appearance, examining a dying old farmer—this must be the old doctor.

The sisters approached and explained their situation. The old doctor pondered, “Your villagers are suffering from heat toxin disease…” After saying this, he pointed to the room full of farmers waiting to be treated and said to the sisters, “There is also an epidemic here, and I cannot leave.

However, I can teach you a method: go to the hills, valleys, and edges of the woods to collect a type of herb that blooms in early summer, with flowers growing in pairs in the leaf axils, initially white, later turning yellow, contrasting yellow and white, which does not fall in winter, called ‘Ren Dong’ (Honeysuckle), it can cure your villagers’ disease.”

The old doctor further described, “This herb has stems that wrap around trees, growing several meters long, twisting to the left; it has many branches in the middle, and is brownish in color.

Its flowers are tubular and curved, 2 to 3 cm long, 1 to 3 cm wide; yellowish-white, with dense hairs; occasionally with ovate leaf-like bracts; the calyx is hairless, with hairy lobes; the corolla is tubular, with five lobes at the top, the lobes nearly equal to the corolla tube; there are five stamens, and the ovary is inferior. It has a clear fragrance and a slightly bitter taste.”

Upon hearing this, the sisters immediately thanked the old doctor and set out to collect the herb, soon returning with a full load. However, due to overexertion, the sisters fell ill upon returning home.

Despite this, they personally prepared a decoction from the collected herbs for their villagers. After taking the medicine, the villagers quickly recovered. The sisters also soon recovered under the care of their parents and the villagers’ concern.

To commemorate the sisters’ contributions, the villagers named the unknown herb “Jin Hua Yin Hua” (Golden Flower and Silver Flower). Later, it was gradually abbreviated to “Jin Yin Hua” (Honeysuckle).

Not long after, the medical sage Shen Nong heard of this and came to visit, taking “Jin Yin Hua” back for research. He discovered that Honeysuckle is sweet and cold, enters the Lung, Stomach, and Large Intestine meridians, and has the effects of clearing heat, detoxifying, cooling blood, and stopping dysentery.

Thus, Shen Nong widely used “Jin Yin Hua” for the treatment of heat toxin diseases, breast abscess, lung abscess, intestinal abscess, as well as boils, carbuncles, and erysipelas, and recorded it in the “Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic,” which has been passed down to this day.