[Variety Source]

This product is the flower bud of honeysuckle flower (Lonicera japonica Thunb.), a perennial semi-evergreen twining woody vine of the honeysuckle flower family. It is distributed throughout the north and south of my country. Pick the flowers in early summer when they are still in bud and dry in the shade. Use raw, stir-fried or distillate.

[Character]

Semi-evergreen twining shrub. The stem is like a vine, several meters long. The young branches are green or dark brown, densely covered with yellowish-brown, spreading straight hairs, mixed with glandular hairs and pubescence; the old branches are reddish brown, with few or smooth hairs. Leaves are opposite, ovate or oblong-ovate, 3 to 5 (~9.5) cm long, 1.5 to 4 cm wide, apex acuminate or blunt, base rounded, entire edge, the upper part of the branchlets usually have both sides and edges densely covered with short Hairy, the lower part is often smooth and hairless, and the lower part is somewhat bluish white; the petiole is about 5mm long. The flowers are in pairs, axillary, with a pair of bracts, leaf-shaped, ovate to elliptical, 2 to 3cm long, with free bracts, about 1mm long; the calyx tube is hairless, with 5 calyx teeth, ovate triangle or long triangle. The apex is pointed and long-haired, and there are dense hairs on the outside and edges; the corolla is tubular, (2~)3~4.5(~6)cm long, white, sometimes the base is reddish toward the sun, then turns yellow, and the outside is slightly inverted. Raw spreading or semi-spreading strigose and glandular hairs, upper part divided, lip-shaped, 4 lobes of upper lip often merged and upright, lower lip reversed, about longer than corolla tube; 5 stamens; 1 pistil, ovary inferior. The berries are spherical and black when ripe. The flowers bloom from April to June, the fruit period is from July to October, and they can also bloom in autumn.

[Property]

sweet, cold. act on lung, heart and stomach channels.

[Efficacy]

clearing heat and removing toxin, releasing exterior with pungent-cool.

[Indications]

1. For boil and sore sores. This product is sweet and cold, clears heat and removes toxin, disperses carbuncle and reduces swelling, and is an important medicine for treating all boil and sore syndrome/pattern. For the treatment of redness, heat, swelling and pain at the beginning of carbuncle, this product can be decoctioned and taken alone, or the residue can be applied to the affected area, or it can be combined with Gleditisia Spine, Pangolin Scales, Dahurian Angelica combination of medicinals, such as Immortal Formula Life-Saving Decoction; if used for boil and sore sores, redness, heat and pain, hard and deep roots, often used with Tokyo Violet Herb, Dandelion, wild chrysanthemum flower are used together, such as Five-Ingredient Toxin-Eliminating Decoction; if used for intratestinal abscess abdominal pain, it is often combined with Chinese Angelica, Sanguisorba, Skullcap Root of medicinals, such as Intestine-Cleaning Decoction; if used for lung abscess, cough and vomiting pus and blood, it is often used with Heartleaf Houttuynia Herb, Reed Rhizome, Peach Kernel is used equally to clear the lungs and expelling pus.
2. Used for external contraction of wind-heat and the onset of warm disease. This product is sweet and cold, aromatic and dispersing, good at dispersing heat evil in the lung meridian, clearing heart and stomach heat poison. Often used synonymously with Forsythia, Mentha, Great Burdock Achene, such as Lonicera and Forsythia Powder; If the heat enters the nutrient-blood, the tongue is red, unconsciousness, and the mind is upset, it often occurs with Unprocessed Rehmannia Root, Coptis Rhizome and other combinations of medicinals, such as Nutrient-Clearing Decoction, this product has expelling heat of nutrient aspect through the qi aspect merit.
3. Used for heat toxin and blood dysentery. This product is sweet and cold, has the effect of clearing heat and removing toxin, cooling blood and stopping dysentery. Therefore, it is often used for heat toxin and purulent bloody stool. Thick frying alone will do the trick. It can also be used together with Skullcap Root, Coptis Rhizome, chinese pulsatilla root and other medicines to enhance the anti-dysentery effect. In addition, Lonicera can be distilled with water to make Lonicera lotion, which has the effect of clearing summerheat and can be used for summer heat polydipsia, sore throat, and heat sore (herpes simplex) and prickly heat in children.

[Documentation]

1. Bencao Shiyi: "For heat toxin, blood dysentery and water dysentery, take it as a thick decoction."
2. Bencao Gangmu: "All wind- dampness, and various swollen poisons, scabies, chinese wax myrtle bark and various malignant sores.

   [Usage and Dosage]

   Decoct and take 10-15g.

   [Precaution]

   Deficiency-cold of spleen and stomach and qi deficiency sore and ulcer should not be used if the purulence is clear.

   [Modern Pharmacology]

   This product contains cyclohexanol, flavonoids, inositol, saponins, tannins, etc. The leaves contain flavins and tannins. Stems contain saponins, etc.

   • This product has a broad-spectrum antibacterial effect and has a strong inhibitory effect on pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and dysentery bacilli. It is also effective against various pathogenic microorganisms such as Leptospira, influenza viruses and pathogenic molds. It has inhibitory effect;
   • It has obvious anti-inflammatory and antipyretic effects;
   • Lonicera's water and wine infusion has obvious cytotoxic effect on fleshy tumor 180 and Ehrlich's abdominal retention of water tumor.
   • This product has a certain cholesterol-lowering effect.

   [Supplementary Medication]

   Honeysuckle Stem: The stems and leaves of honeysuckle flower, also known as Lonicera vine. For autumn and winter medicine, take the young branches with leaves, dry them in the sun, and use them raw. Its taste, taste and efficacy are similar to Lonicera, so it can be used as a substitute for Lonicera. Its removing toxin effect is deficient Lonicera, but this product also has the effect of unblocking the meridians, which can eliminate wind-heat in the meridians and relieve pain. Therefore, it is often used for wind-dampness heat arthralgia, joint redness, swelling, heat and pain, and difficulty in flexion and extension. Decoct and take, 15-30g.