Witnessed by: TCM · Western
Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis), of the Asparagaceae (formerly Liliaceae / Convallariaceae) family. Low creeping woodland perennial spreading by rhizome, with paired broad basal leaves; native range: temperate Europe and Asia across to northern China and Japan; naturalised in North America, in shady woodland and on cool hillsides. Globally recognized as May lily, Our Lady's tears, convall-lily, ladder-to-heaven, muguet in English, and ling lan (铃兰), jun ying cao (君影草) in Chinese. The part used is the flowering herb (leaves and flowering stalks), dried; the rhizome is also used. A one-sided spray of small, waxy, nodding white bells above two sheathing leaves, intensely and sweetly fragrant; the taste of the herb is bitter and acrid.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
LILY OF THE VALLEY
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Lily of the valley
- Scientific name
- Convallaria majalis L.
- Family
- Asparagaceae (formerly Liliaceae / Convallariaceae)
Form
- Part used
- the flowering herb (leaves and flowering stalks), dried; the rhizome is also used
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet · bitter
- Western
- bitter, acrid
Temperature
- TCM
- warm
- Western
- cool (temperate to slightly cool)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Heart
- Western
- heart · circulation · kidneys
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- qiang xin (strengthens the Heart, a cardiotonic), li niao (promotes urination and disperses water swelling), warms and quickens Heart-yang
- Western
- cardiotonic (positive inotrope), cardiac diuretic, and mildly sedative to the heart; slows and strengthens a weak, rapid, irregular beat much as foxglove does but with a gentler, less cumulative action
Cautions
Contraindications: Not for self-medication. Contraindicated alongside digitalis or other cardiac glycosides, in hypercalcaemia and hypokalaemia (which sharply increase glycoside toxicity), in existing glycoside-type arrhythmias, and in pregnancy and lactation. Use only under medical supervision with cardiac monitoring.
Toxicity: The whole plant — leaves, flowers, rhizome and the red berries — contains cardioactive glycosides, chiefly convallatoxin, convallarin and convalloside (some 30-odd have been identified), which act like digitalis on the heart. Overdose gives nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, headache, diarrhoea, slowing of the pulse, then dangerous cardiac arrhythmias, heart block and cardiac arrest; visual disturbance and confusion may occur. Poisoning follows eating the bright berries (a hazard to children), chewing the leaves, or drinking the water flowers have stood in. It is generally less cumulative and often less severely toxic than digitalis because the glycosides are less well absorbed from the gut and more rapidly excreted, but it is fully capable of killing. Management is as for digitalis poisoning — activated charcoal, correction of potassium, cardiac monitoring and antiarrhythmic support; digoxin-specific antibody fragments may be considered.
Interactions
- Western
- cardiac glycosides: additive cardiac glycoside effect greatly raising the risk of toxic arrhythmia · diuretics: potassium- and magnesium-wasting diuretics deplete electrolytes and potentiate glycoside toxicity · antiepileptics: hypokalaemia or altered handling can heighten sensitivity of the heart to the glycoside
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