Pinyin: Jin Yin Hua  Chinese: 金银花
Pharmaceutical: Flos Lonicerae japonicae
Taxonomy: Lonicera japonica
English: Honeysuckle Flower

Tastes: Pungent, slightly bitter, cold
Meridians Entered: Lung, heart, stomach and large intestine

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat and resolves Fire Toxicity
   Hot, painful sores and skin eruptions in various stages of development, especially breast, throat and eyes
   Intestinal abscesses
2. Vents and disperses External Wind-Heat
   Early-Stage Wind-Heat Warm-Heat pathogen with fever, chills, slight aversion to Wind, sore throat and headache
   External Summerheat
3. Clears Damp-Heat from the Lower Jiao
   Damp-Heat in the Lower Jiao with dysentery or Lin Syndrome
4. Cools the Blood and stops bleeding (charred)
   Blood Heat dysentery
5. Releases the Exterior and Drives Out Snakes
   Gu Sydnrome (Fruehauf, 1998)
   Chronic inflammatory disease (Fruehauf, 2015)
   Mysterious bruises due to Ghost Strike (鬼擊) (Wilcox, 2024)

Standard Dosage: 6-30g in decoction. Small doses are for expelling Wind-Heat, large doses for Toxic Heat sores. Can be up to 90g in extreme cases (e.g. Si Miao Yong An Tang).

Pinyin: Bian Dou Hua  Chinese: 扁豆花
Pharmaceutical: Flos Dolichoris
English: Hyacinth Bean Flower

Tastes: Sweet, neutral
Meridians Entered: Spleen, Stomach and Large Intestine

Actions:
Relieve summer-heat, resolve dampness, temper the spleen and stomach.

Indications:
Diarrhea due to summer-heat and damp, leukorrhea with reddish discharge

Standard Dosage: 3-9g in decoction.

Pinyin: He Ye  Chinese: 荷叶
Pharmaceutical: Nelumbinis Foliae
English: Lotus Leaf

Tastes: Bitter, astringent, neutral
Meridians Entered: Heart, Liver, Spleen, Gallbladder and Lung

Actions & Indications:

1. Relieves Summerheat
   Summerheat and Dampness with fever, irritability, excessive sweating, scanty urine and especially diarrhoea
2. Raises and clears Spleen Yang
   Spleen Yang Deficiency diarrhoea especially in the aftermath of Summerheat
3. Removes Stagnation and stops bleeding
   Bleeding in the Lower Jiao due to Heat or Stagnation Hematemesis (adjunctive)

Standard Dosage: 3-10g in decoction.

Pinyin: Xi Gua  Chinese: 西瓜
Pharmaceutical: Pulpa Citrulli
English: Watermelon Fruit

Tastes: Sweet, cold
Meridians Entered: Heart, Stomach and Bladder

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Summerheat and generates Fluids
   Summerheat patterns, especially with significant thirst, dark, scanty urine and dry heaves
2. Promotes urination and eliminates jaundice
   Icteric hepatitis
3. Cools Lung and Stomach Heat
   Lung and Stomach Heat

Standard Dosage:

Pinyin: Si Gua Luo  Chinese: 絲瓜絡
Pharmaceutical: Retinervus Luffae Fructus
English: Loofah / Luffa / Vegetable Sponge Skeleton

Tastes: Sweet, neutral
Meridians Entered: Lung, Stomach and Liver

Actions & Indications:

1. Resolves toxicity and reduces swelling
   Abscesses and other toxic sores.
   Often used for breast abscesses, breast distention, lumps and insufficient lactation
2. Unblocks the channels and collaterals and dispels Wind
   Wind-Damp Bi, soreness in the chest and flanks, pain and soreness in the muscles and sinews and stiffness in the joints, especially when Phlegm is part of the pattern
   Traumatic injury
3. Unblocks the channels and collaterals in the breast
   Breast distention and tenderness
   Insufficient lactation or obstructed lactation
4. Expels Phlegm
   Cough due to Lung Heat with high fever, chest pain, and difficult-to -expectorate sputum (for both adults and children)

Standard Dosage: 6-15g in decoction.

Pinyin: Dan Zhu Ye  Chinese: 淡竹叶
Pharmaceutical: Herba Lophatheri
English: Bamboo Leaves and Stem

Tastes: Cold, bitter, sweet and bland
Meridians Entered: Small Intestine, Lung and Stomach

Actions & Indications:

1. Clears Heat and eliminates irritability
   Internal Heat patterns with irritability, restlessness, dry mouth and thirst
   Mouth and lip ulcers ulcers due to Heat in the Heart or Stomach channels
2. Promotes urination and clears Damp-Heat
   Rough, scanty, painful urination
   Especially useful for Heat in the Small Intestine channel with rough, scanty, painful urination, irritability and a dark, red tip of the tongue

Standard Dosage: 5-15g in decoction.