TCM: Clears Heat and Toxins, expels Wind heat
General: Used to treat acute febrile illness, respiratory tract infection, influenza, common cold, acute tonsillitis, acute mastitis, lobar pneumonia, bacterial dysentery, acute appendicitis, carbuncle, furuncle, skin infections, dysentery, allergic skin lesions. It has been shown to have the following actions: antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, anticholesterolemic, immune stimulant.
History
The use of the stems is first mentioned in a seven volume work, Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu “Collection of Commentaries on the Classic of the Materia Medica “490 -498CE, by to the Taoist pharmacologist, Tao Hong-jing 456-536CE. It describes 730 herbs and offers additional information such as methods of preparation and how to correctly identify herbs.
The medicinal use of the flowers is mentioned in Tao Hong-jing’s Ming Yi Bie Lu, “Supplementary Records of Famous Physicians” 500CE. This work is also attributed to Tao Hong-jing. It was his revision of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, “Divine Husbandman’s Classic of the Materia Medica “of 100CE, in which he doubled the number of herbs to about 700. The herbs were grouped into upper, middle, and lower classes.
The evergreen Lonicera was placed with the upper class herbs and was known as rendong, “survive winter”. The upper class herbs were considered to have a gentle action and although they could expel illness, the focus was more on long term consumption leading to extended life expectancy.
Both flower and stem of Lonicera japonica, came into common use in association “with the rise of the “Warm Diseases” school (the term warm diseases refer mainly to infections), which got its start at the end of the 16th Century and became a major force in the development of Chinese medicine during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1910).” http://www.itmonline.org/arts/lonicera.htm
In the eighteenth century, Lonicera japonica flowers appeared in the formula Yin Qiao San in book, ‘Analysis of Warm Diseases (Wen Bing Tiao Bian) 1798 by Wu Ju-tong, a major contributor to the Warm Diseases school. Used in the treatment of Wind-Heat invasion eg colds and flu with heat symptoms, it is the most well known and commonly used of all the formulas containing Lonicera japonica,
In the West, Lonicera was named in honour of Adam Lonicer (1528-1586), a German physician & naturalist. In the United States, it was introduced in 1806 as a potential ornamental. The variety, “Halliana”, introduced in 1862, was valued because it was a free grower and flowered throughout the summer. Within a few decades, this variety became one of the most tenacious and hated weeds, spreading from birds eating the fruits and excreting the seeds in open areas, where it quickly took hold and choked out thousands of acres of native vegetation.
Botanical outline
The genus Lonicera is a member of the Caprifoliaceae family which consists of about 800 dicot flowering plants including the genera of largely ornamental shrubs, Abelia, Weigela and Viburnum. Lonicera contains 180 species of shrubs and twining vines native to the northern hemisphere. Many are cultivated as ornamentals. Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is widely naturalised in many parts of the world.
Lonicera japonica is regarded as an environmental weed in both Australia and New Zealand and in many areas of the USA. In New South Wales, it is actively managed by community groups and was recently listed as a priority environmental weed in six Natural Resource Management regions. It also appears in the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD).
It occasionally reproduces by seed, but more commonly it spreads vegetatively via its creeping stems which produce roots at their joints (i.e. via stolons). A semi-evergreen, twining shrub, the stems grow to several metres with young, densely pubescent branches. The opposite leaves are 3 to 8 cm long, ovate or elliptical in shape with margins entire.
The sweetly fragrant white flowers fade to yellow, hence the name ‘jin yin hua’ (gold silver flower). They are 3 to 5 cm long, axilliary, in pairs or solitary. The tubular corolla divides into an erect upper lip with 4 lobes and a lower inverse lip with a single lobe. Both stamens and style protrude beyond the corolla. It blooms in spring and summer. The fruit is a black berry.
The flower buds and early opening flowers are collected at the beginning of summer when in full bloom. They are treated with sulphur to dry or are dried in the sun. The young stems are harvested in autumn and winter, tied in small bundles and also dried in the sun. The fresh vine is considered to act more quickly than when dried.
Medicinal properties
From a TCM perspective, Lonicera japonica (both flower and stem) enters the Lung, Stomach and Large Intestine and is cold with a sweet taste. A sweet taste enters the Spleen and tonifies, harmonises and moistens.
The flower is a popular ingredient of herbal tea in the summer for its ‘cooling’ effect. It is widely used in combination for clearing heat & detoxification eg for colds & flu. An extract of the flowers is used intravenously in Chinese hospitals to treat infection. Topically, honeysuckle has an astringent and antimicrobial effect and is used for inflammation, itching, and to reduce swelling and pain.
Actions: ‘Lonicera can be used for any stage of warm pathogen disease, from superficial to deep, in the nutritive or blood levels’. Materia Medica 3rd Ed. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Flower (jin yin hua) (Picked in bud or just open, light fragrance with lifting & dispersing quality)
Strongly clears heat & toxicity to treat hot painful sores & inflamed skin, fever, sore, painful throat; clears Wind Heat (virus) with fever, sore throat, headache; clears damp heat from ‘lower burner’ to treat dysenteric disorder, painful urinary dribbling and generates body fluids to prevent the consumption of Yin by heat and treats dryness and thirst.
Stem (ren dong teng)
Moderately clears heat & toxicity to treat hot painful sores, abdominal inflammation & pain eg appendicitis, breast inflammation eg mastitis, early or excessive periods due to heat in the Blood; clears Wind Heat (virus) with fever, sore throat, headache; disperses wind damp heat (soothes sinews, unblocks channels and collaterals) to treat red, swollen joints. While considered toxic (See ‘Herbal Emissaries’ Steven Foster, Yue Chongxi p298), the seeds are used in both China & Tibet for the treatment of uterine bleeding. In China they are also used for dysentery with bleeding and in Tibet for ‘fever of the heart, irregular menstruation and ‘blood tumor. (‘Tibetan Medicinal Plants’ Dr Tenzin Dakpa p138.)
In medieval England, a wild honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum, containing salicylates, was used for aching muscles, inflammation, infections and fevers. John Gerard (1545 – 1611) English botanist and herbalist, recommended it topically for numbness. (Generall Historie of Plantes 1597)
From a western herbal perspective, Lonicera japonica is alterative, antibiotic, diuretic, refrigerant and diaphoretic. The juice of the plant is a folk remedy for snakebite.
Modern scientific studies revealed that the flower of this plant has broad-spectrum antibacterial, antiviral
and anti-inflammatory properties. The active ingredients include iridoid, glycosides, organic acids (quinic acid & caffeic acid), triterpene glycosides (saponins), flavonoids, monoterpenes & sesquiterpenes.