Witnessed by: TCM · Western
Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), of the Caprifoliaceae family. Vigorous twining woody climber with paired fragrant flowers; native range: East Asia — China, Korea and Japan; naturalised and often invasive elsewhere. Globally recognized as jin yin hua (金银花) in Chinese, and honeysuckle flower, gold-and-silver flower, woodbine in English. The part used is flower bud (and, in the West, flower and leafy stem). Slender tubular buds, downy and pale, opening white then turning yellow; sweetly perfumed, with a mild, faintly bitter, cooling taste.
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.
JAPANESE HONEYSUCKLE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Japanese honeysuckle
- Scientific name
- Lonicera japonica Thunb.
- Family
- Caprifoliaceae
Form
- Part used
- flower bud (and, in the West, flower and leafy stem)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet
- Western
- sweet · bland
Temperature
TCM: cold
Western: cool
convergence: both {witness_count} witnesses converge — a cooling, fever-easing flower in each
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Lung · Stomach · Heart · Large Intestine
- Western
- lungs · digestion
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- clears heat and resolves toxicity (qing re jie du), expels wind-heat, cools the blood and checks hot dysentery
- Western
- cooling, anti-inflammatory, expectorant and mildly antimicrobial; the flowers febrifuge
Cautions
- Contraindications
- spleen-stomach deficiency cold, and cold-type sores and diarrhoea
- Toxicity
- well tolerated; very large doses may loosen the stool
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