Lianqiao (Forsythia), the “Holy Herb for Sores”
The Chinese medicinal lianqiao is the dried fruit of Forsythia suspensa (Oleaceae). Fruit harvested in autumn when just ripe is called “green forsythia” (qingqiao); fruit harvested when fully ripe is called “old forsythia” (laoqiao or huangqiao). Forsythia heart (lianqiao xin) is made by steaming green forsythia immediately after harvesting, sun-drying, and sifting out the seeds. Green forsythia excels at clearing heat and resolving toxins; old forsythia at venting heat to the exterior and dispersing wind-heat; forsythia heart at clearing heart fire. Those with spleen-stomach deficiency-cold should not use forsythia.
Lianqiao belongs to TCM’s heat-clearing, toxin-resolving herbs. Traditional TCM holds that lianqiao is bitter and slightly cold, entering the lung, heart and small-intestine meridians, with actions of clearing heat and resolving toxins, reducing swelling and dissipating nodules, and dispersing wind-heat. It excels at clearing heart fire, resolving sores-toxin, and dispersing welling-abscesses and nodal accumulations; it has long been called the “holy herb for sores,” and is a key herb for dissipating abscesses and nodules. The Shennong Bencao Jing records that lianqiao “maintains cold and heat, mouse-fistula and scrofula, welling-abscesses and malignant sores, goiter and nodules, binding heat, and gu toxin.” Many TCM formulas for sores and abscesses contain lianqiao.
Paired with different herbs, lianqiao treats various sores, ulcers and welling-abscesses. For unruptured sores, pair with zaojiaoci (Chinese honeylocust thorn); for discharging sores with red swelling and ulceration, pair with baiji (Bletilla), mudanpi (Moutan), tianhuafen (Trichosanthes root) and baizhi (Angelica dahurica). For phlegm-fire binding with scrofula and phlegm nodules, add lianqiao and xiakucao to the Xiaoluo Wan formula. For painful breast abscess, pair with pugongying (Dandelion), gualou (Trichosanthes), rendongteng (Honeysuckle vine), zihuadiding (Viola), loulu (Rhaponticum) and wangbuliuxing (Cowherb seed). For exuberant blood-heat toxin with erysipelas and red swelling, pair with daqingye (Isatis leaf), banlangen (Isatis root), qingdai (Indigo), pugongying and zihuadiding; adding lianqiao to Wuwei Xiaodu San enhances swelling-dissolving and nodule-scattering.
The water decoction of lianqiao has broad-spectrum antimicrobial action. It is sensitive to Staphylococcus aureus, hemolytic streptococci, catarrhalis, Salmonella typhi, Vibrio cholerae and Shigella, and also inhibits certain fungi. Lianqiao also has anti-hepatic-damage action: in rats with carbon-tetrachloride liver injury it markedly reduces hepatic degeneration and necrosis, restores or nearly restores liver glycogen and RNA in most experimental animals, and significantly lowers serum ALT. Lianqiao also lowers blood and urine glucose in experimental rats; as an injection it lowers blood pressure. Its ethanol extract inhibits tumor cells, and its methanol extract has anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-allergic effects.
A historical classic formula associated with lianqiao is Yinqiao San; the modern Chinese patent medicines Yinqiao granules and Vitamin-C Yinqiao tablets are all made from the Yinqiao San formula. Yinqiao San comes from the Wenbing Tiaobian and is the representative formula for taiyin wind-warmth, warmth-heat, epidemic warmth and winter warmth, presenting with fever but no aversion to cold, plus thirst—this is the typical presentation of warm disease. Professor Zhao Shaoqin especially noted that diagnosing warm disease requires looking at the patient’s throat; he considered a red, swollen throat with elevated white blood cells an important sign of warm disease rather than cold damage or wind-stroke, and warned against misusing formulas like ephedra and cinnamon twig; only light, clear heat-venting formulas such as Yinqiao San or Sangju Yin should be used. Yinqiao San is made from one liang each of lianqiao and jinyinhua (Lonicera flower), six qian of kukengjie (Platycodon), six qian of bohe (Mentha), four qian of zhuye (Bamboo leaf), five qian of sheng gancao (raw Licorice), four qian of jingjiesui (Schizonepeta spike), five qian of dandouchi (Prepared soybean), and six qian of niubangzi (Burdock seed), pounded together into powder; take six qian each time, decocted with fresh reed root. Such fever-reducing formulas need not be limited to two or three doses a day; they may be given every two hours, reducing the frequency only after the fever recedes.
Lianqiao is a common herb for external-medicine physicians. The Yangshi Jiacang Fang contains a “Lianqiao San” for scrofulous tuberculosis, made of equal parts lianqiao, guijianyu (Bidens), qumai (Dianthus) and zhi gancao (honey-fried Licorice), ground finely and taken with rice-wash water before sleep. The Waike Jingyi also has a “Lianqiao San,” made of equal parts lianqiao, zhizi (Gardenia), fangfeng (Saposhnikovia) and gancao, prepared as a powder; take three qian boiled in water, treating boils and sores, malignant sore pain, vexed thirst, loose stools, and vacuity-heat unrest. Folk recipes often use lianqiao as the chief herb for red, swollen, painful breasts from acute mastitis.
Lianqiao not only reduces swelling and dissipates nodules but also treats skin diseases. It has diuretic and heat-discharging, bowel-loosening actions, so it works well for eczema with difficult urination and defecation due to damp-heat; some physicians even brew lianqiao alone as tea for stubborn constipation. Literature also records that lianqiao treats allergic purpura: 12 g lianqiao and 30 g jujube, decocted in water, treats allergic purpura.