bubble_chart Source

The mulberry tree (Morus alba L.) is a deciduous tree of the Moraceae family, cultivated throughout the country, especially in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, with a long history. It is harvested after frost between October and November, impurities are removed, and it is dried in the sun. The leaves, fruits, wood, and branches of the mulberry tree can be used for silkworm feeding, food, brewing, basket weaving, papermaking, and making various utensils. At the same time, its leaves, roots, root bark, young branches, fruit clusters, wood, and Chinese Taxillus Herb are also good medicines for disease prevention and treatment.

Winter Mulberry Leaf is also known as mulberry leaf, late Mulberry Leaf, and old Mulberry Leaf. It is the Mulberry Leaf harvested after frost from late autumn to early winter. The best quality leaves are large, plump, and yellow-orange in color. Stir-fried Mulberry Leaf is Mulberry Leaf that is lightly stir-fried over mild fire until it turns deep yellow, then taken out and spread to cool before being used as medicine. Honey-roasted Mulberry Leaf is also known as honey Mulberry Leaf. It is Mulberry Leaf that is roasted with honey before being used as medicine.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Bitter and sweet, cold.

• Rihuazi Bencao: "Warm, nontoxic."
• Gangmu: "Bitter and sweet, cold, slightly toxic."
• Yilin Zuanyao Tanyuan: "sweet, sour and acrid, cold. act on lung and liver channels."
• Gangmu: "act on hand/foot yangming i> channels. "
• Bencao Jing Jie: "act on foot taiyang bladder, hand shaoyin heart and foot taiyin spleen channels. "
• Bencao Zaixin: "act on liver and lung channels."

bubble_chart Efficacy

Mulberry leaf has a bitter and sweet taste with a cold nature, enters the lung and liver meridians, and has the functions of dispersing wind and clearing heat, cooling blood and stopping bleeding, clearing heat and improving vision, moistening the lung and relieving cough.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for wind-heat common cold, headache, and cough. This product is sweet, cold, and light in nature, with a light and dispersing effect, excelling in cooling and dispersing wind-heat, and also clearing the lung and stopping coughing. Therefore, it is commonly used for wind-heat common cold or the initial stage of warm disease, where warm pathogens invade the lung, causing fever, headache, and cough. It is often combined with Chrysanthemum Flower, Forsythia, Bitter Apricot Seed, etc., such as in Mulberry Leaf and Chrysanthemum Decoction.
2. Used for lung heat and dry cough. This product is bitter and cold, clearing lung heat, sweet and cold to nourish yin, and cooling and moistening lung dryness. Therefore, it can be used for dryness-heat damaging the lung, dry cough with little phlegm. For mild cases, it can be combined with Bitter Apricot Seed, Coastal Glehnia Root, Fritillaria Bulb, etc., such as in Mulberry Leaf and Apricot Kernel Decoction; for severe cases, it can be combined with raw Gypsum, Ophiopogon Tuber, Donkey-hide Gelatin, etc., such as in Dryness-Clearing Lung-Rescuing Decoction.
3. Used for liver yang vertigo, red eyes, and blurred vision. This product is bitter and cold, also entering the liver meridian, and has the effect of pacifying and descending liver yang. Therefore, it can be used to treat ascendant hyperactivity of liver yang, headache, and vertigo, often combined with Chrysanthemum Flower, Abalone Shell, Peony Root, etc. This product can both release the exterior with pungent-cool properties and clear liver fire, nourish yin, cool blood, and improve vision. Therefore, when combined with Chrysanthemum Flower, Prunella, Plantain Seed, and other heat-clearing and vision-improving substances, it can be used to treat wind-heat in the liver meridian, liver fire attacking upward, causing red eyes, astringent pain, and excessive tearing in excess syndromes/patterns; when combined with blood-nourishing black sesame, it forms Mulberry and Sesame Pill, which can also be used to treat liver and kidney deficiency, blurred vision, and other deficiency syndromes/patterns.
4. The white sap exuded from fresh Mulberry Leaf after breaking the leaf veins is called Mulberry Leaf juice, which is bitter and slightly cold in nature, and excels in removing toxins, clearing heat, and stopping bleeding. It is mainly used for treating boils, goiters, external injuries, bleeding, and centipede bites. The distilled liquid of Mulberry Leaf can also be used to treat eye diseases.
5. In addition, this product is sweet and cold, and can also cool blood and stop bleeding. It can be used to treat reckless movement of blood due to heat, hematemesis, and nosebleeds, either used alone or combined with other hemostatic medicinals.
6. Modern applications also include treating elephant hide swelling of the lower limbs.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing: "Relieves heat and sweating, induces perspiration."
2. Bencao Shiyi: "Mulberry Leaf, also known as Ji Sang, is the most suitable for use."
3. Bencao Yanyi: "Clears the lungs, purges stomach heat, cools blood, dries dampness, dispels wind, and improves vision."
4. Bencao Tujing: "Mulberry Leaf can be taken regularly. The leaves are best collected in April when the mulberry is flourishing; also after the frost in October, when two-thirds of the leaves have fallen, the remaining one-third, known as the 'immortal leaf,' should be collected and dried in the shade. It can be ground into powder and taken in pills or powder form, or brewed as a tea substitute, which can enhance intelligence. Additionally, lightly roasting the leaves until slightly dry and decocting them with mulberry bark can treat dysentery, and also helps in healing incised wounds and stopping bleeding from injuries."
5. Bencao Gangmu: "There are several types of mulberry: the white mulberry, with large, thick leaves like a palm; the Ji Sang, with thin, patterned leaves; the Zi Sang, which bears fruit before leaves; and the mountain mulberry, with long, pointed leaves. Those grown from seeds are not as good as those propagated by layering. When the mulberry tree produces yellow bark, it is called golden mulberry, and the wood is likely to decay." "Treats consumptive fever, cough, improves vision, and promotes hair growth."
6. 《Hundred Herb Mirror》: "Mulberry Leaf, do not use leaves from trees that have been harvested twice. Only the top leaves should be collected, as the second leaves retain full potency. After the Great Snow (21st solar term), if the leaves remain green on the branches or turn yellow and dry, they are still usable, provided they have been pressed by the snow; collect them the next day after the snow clears, string them up, and dry them in the shade. They often turn a bluish-black color and make a metallic sound when blown by the wind, hence the name 'iron fan.' Those collected after the Winter Solstice (22nd solar term) are of the best quality."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

5-10 grams. Decoct for oral use, or make into pills or powder. For external use, decoct in water to wash the eyes. Honey-processed Mulberry Leaf can enhance its effect of moistening the lungs and relieving cough, so it is often honey-processed for lung dryness and cough.

bubble_chart Processing and Storage

1. Mulberry Leaf: Remove impurities, crush, remove stems, and sift out mud and debris.
2. Honey Mulberry Leaf: Take clean Mulberry Leaf, mix with a small amount of boiled water and refined honey, stir evenly, let it sit for a while, then stir-fry in a pan over mild fire until it no longer sticks to the hands. Remove and let cool. For every 100 pounds of Mulberry Leaf, use 20-25 pounds of refined honey.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains sterols, beautiful steetgum resin glycosides, mulberry glycosides, quercetin, isoquercetin, scopolin, and others. Fresh Mulberry Leaf decoction has been shown in vitro to inhibit various pathogenic bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and β-hemolytic streptococcus. The decoction also has an inhibitory effect on Leptospira.

bubble_chart Supplementary Medicinals

Mulberry twig: The tender twigs of the mulberry tree, harvested in late spring and early summer. They have a bitter and neutral taste, with a particular affinity for the liver meridian. They are effective in dispelling wind-dampness, unblocking meridians, benefiting joints, and promoting water circulation. They are commonly used to treat wind-dampness arthralgia, limb spasms, edema, generalized itching, and are especially effective for upper limb impediment pain. They can be decocted or made into a paste for internal use, or decocted for external washing. Additionally, burning mulberry twigs produces a liquid called mulberry sap, which, according to texts like the Bencao Gangmu, can treat severe skin sores, tetanus, and children's facial and body sores.

mulberry wood: The wood of the mulberry tree has three medicinal uses. First, the ash from burning mulberry wood, called mulberry wood ash, can treat edema, incised wound bleeding, and red eye swelling and pain. Second, the liquid obtained by adding water to mulberry wood ash, filtering, and evaporating it forms a crystalline substance called mulberry frost, which can treat food accumulation blockages and Yongju boils and sores. Third, the nodules on old mulberry wood, called mulberry galls, were believed by ancient people to dispel wind and remove dampness, treating wind-dampness arthralgia and elderly crane knee wind. Nowadays, mulberry wood is rarely used clinically.

White Mulberry Root-Bark: The roots of the mulberry tree are dug up in winter, and the cork layer is removed for medicinal use. It has a sweet and cold nature, entering the lung and spleen meridians, and is effective in purging lung heat, relieving panting, promoting water circulation, and reducing swelling. It is commonly used to treat lung heat cough and panting, excessive phlegm, edema, beriberi, and difficulty urinating. It is often used in decoctions and powders, or mashed into juice or decocted for external use. The root bark can also be used medicinally, with texts stating it has a slightly bitter and neutral taste, and can treat fright epilepsy, bone and muscle pain, hypertension, red eye, thrush, and menorrhagia and metrostaxis.

mulberry fruit: The fruit clusters of the mulberry tree, harvested in summer. They have a sweet and cold nature, entering the heart, liver, and kidney meridians, and are effective in tonifying the liver and kidneys, enriching yin and replenishing blood, promoting fluid production and moistening the intestines, and extinguishing wind. They are commonly used to treat yin deficiency and blood deficiency symptoms such as vertigo, dim vision, tinnitus, insomnia, premature graying, thirst due to fluid injury, and intestinal dryness constipation. They can be decocted, made into a paste, eaten raw, soaked in wine, or used for external washing.

jew's ear on mulberry tree: An edible tree fungus that grows on the mulberry tree, known in ancient medicinal texts as jew's ear on mulberry tree. It has a sweet and neutral taste and can treat bloody defecation, hemorrhoid bleeding, nosebleeds, and women's menorrhagia and metrostaxis, leukorrhea, and heart abdominal pain. Additionally, the currently clinically used Chinese Taxillus Herb is the branches and leaves of various plants in the Chinese Taxillus Herb family, but ancient people believed that those growing on the mulberry tree were superior. They have a bitter and neutral taste, entering the liver and kidney meridians, and are effective in dispelling wind-dampness, tonifying the liver and kidneys, strengthening bones and muscles, and nourishing blood to calm the fetus. They are used to treat wind-dampness arthralgia, soreness and pain in the waist and knees, and women's menorrhagia and metrostaxis, leukorrhea, and threatened abortion.