Honeysuckle Flowers
金银花 · Jīnyínhuā
Lonicera japonica
Family: Caprifoliaceae · Part used: Unopened flower bud · Origin: Pingyi, Shandong, China
Nature
Cold
Flavor
Sweet
Meridian
Lung, Heart, Stomach
Named 'gold-silver flower' for buds that open white and age to gold, honeysuckle is the foremost heat-toxin-clearing herb in Chinese medicine. The Pingyi region of Shandong supplies buds picked at dawn before opening, when their chlorogenic acid content peaks. A staple of summer cooling teas and skin-clearing decoctions.
🌿 Functions & Actions
- •Clears heat and resolves toxicity
- •Disperses wind-heat
- •Cools the blood and stops dysentery
📋 Traditional Indications
- •Early-stage febrile colds and flu
- •Sore throat and swollen glands
- •Skin sores, boils, and rashes
- •Summer heat
- •Urinary discomfort with heat
📖 Usage & Dosage
10–15 g in decoction or steeped as a cooling tea, often with chrysanthemum and mint.
🍵 Classic Recipes
Jin Yin Lu Gen Drink
Honeysuckle 10 g + reed rhizome 15 g, boiled 15 minutes — a classic summer heat-clearing drink.
Yin Qiao Style Tea
Honeysuckle + forsythia + mint steeped for early colds with sore throat.
🔬 Modern Research
Chlorogenic acid and luteolin from honeysuckle are among the most studied natural antiviral and anti-inflammatory compounds in Chinese herbal research.
⚠️ Contraindications
Avoid in cold-deficiency conditions, spleen-deficiency diarrhea, and during menstruation with cold signs.
