The Medicinal Value of Pagoda Tree Flowers (Huai Hua)
Every May by the lunar calendar, pagoda tree flowers can be seen everywhere on the streets of Beijing. The Chinese scholar tree (Guo Huai) is one of the most common landscaping plants in Beijing; its streets and alleys are planted full of them. When the pagoda tree blooms, it gives off a faint, refreshing fragrance. Pagoda tree flowers are an important nectar source; pagoda-tree-flower honey is one of the most common spring honeys. Because pagoda tree flowers are a common medicinal material, pagoda-tree-flower honey not only has food value but also good medicinal value. It can remove dampness and promote diuresis, cool blood and stop bleeding, dilate blood vessels, and lower blood lipids and blood pressure; it can be used to prevent stroke, and also has the effects of clearing heat and tonifying the center, resolving toxicity and moistening dryness, making it suitable for constipated patients.
Pagoda tree flowers have a long history as medicine; from ancient times to the present, a great many TCM materia medica works have recorded their effects. Their most famous effect is stopping bleeding; the famous TCM formula for treating intestinal wind bleeding, Huai Hua San (Pagoda Tree Flower Powder), is named after them. Pagoda tree flowers are cheap and easy to obtain, and their clinical application is extremely widespread.
The flower buds of the pagoda tree are called Huai Mi (pagoda tree rice), also a commonly used herb with basically the same effects as the flowers but with slight differences. Most pharmacies sell the opened flowers. By convention, Huai Mi is used raw, without stir-frying, to take advantage of its blood-cooling action, suitable for patients with blood heat. Pagoda tree flowers, on the other hand, are mostly stir-fried; flowers stir-fried at 190-195 degrees Celsius have the strongest coagulant and hemostatic effect, while raw Huai Mi has no obvious coagulant or hemostatic action.
The ancients held that pagoda tree flowers resolve toxicity. For example, in his Za Zheng Mo, Zhang Jingyue classified pagoda tree flowers among the fire-draining herbs, holding that "pagoda tree flowers clear fire of the liver, kidney, and large intestine, and can resolve all toxins." Modern pharmacology has confirmed that pagoda tree flowers have an antibacterial effect, especially a marked inhibition of various ringworm fungi and dermatophytes on the skin. There are reports that pagoda tree flowers have a good effect on psoriasis: stir-fry the flowers yellow, grind them into powder or make honey pills, take 3 g each time, twice a day, after meals with warm water. Clinical observation of 53 cases found 6 cured, 22 markedly effective, 19 effective, and 6 ineffective.
Modern pharmacology has confirmed that Huai Mi has certain side effects: the water extract of Huai Mi is mutagenic to human blood lymphocytes and can inhibit the growth, division, and proliferation of human lymphocytes. According to traditional medicine, however, pagoda tree flowers and Huai Mi are a herb that is "bitter, slightly cold, non-toxic, and enters the stomach and large intestine channels." Because it is somewhat cold in nature, those with a weak spleen and stomach should not use it. Pagoda tree flowers do have a certain side effect on the gastrointestinal tract, but some clinicians have found that combining pagoda tree flowers with vitamins B1 and B6 can relieve the side effects.
The main effect of pagoda tree flowers is stopping bleeding; modern pharmacology confirms that their main action is also coagulation and hemostasis, which may be related to the tannins they contain. Traditional TCM holds that pagoda tree flowers cool blood and stop bleeding, and clear the liver and improve vision. They are indicated for intestinal wind bloody stool, hemorrhoidal bleeding, red and white dysentery, blood stranguria, metrorrhagia in women, hematemesis, epistaxis, and sores and swellings. TCM uses pagoda tree flowers to prevent stroke, indicating that they have a preventive effect on cerebral hemorrhage.
The Rihuazi Bencao also records that pagoda tree flowers treat "skin wind" (probably meaning skin diseases). The Bencao Yongfa Yanjiu holds that pagoda tree flowers can "cool blood and clear the liver, eliminate damp-heat evils in the lower burner, dispel wind and treat hemorrhoids." Modern pharmacology has confirmed that extracts of pagoda tree flowers have a certain effect on the prostate and a diuretic action, so patients notice increased urination after taking them.
Judging from these records, pagoda tree flowers can be used to treat various bleeding disorders, as well as hemorrhoids and skin diseases; the various formulas related to pagoda tree flowers are also mainly hemostatic. Pagoda tree flowers can be used alone to stop bleeding, but they are rarely decocted; mostly they are stir-fried yellow and ground into powder to be taken washed down or applied externally (in the Qixiao Liangfang, to treat incessant tongue bleeding, pagoda tree flowers are sun-dried, ground into powder, and applied directly to the tongue)—because the active constituents of pagoda tree flowers do not tolerate prolonged decoction.
The Chuanya Neibian also records that pagoda tree flowers can treat the "hard as stone" type of breast rock (Ru Yan): stir-fry pagoda tree flowers yellow, make them into powder, take three qian with yellow wine, and achieve "immediate resolution" of the breast rock. The breast rock here may be acute mastitis rather than breast cancer. There are reports of using 30 g of Huai Mi, plus 15 g each of Paris polyphylla (Zao Xiu) and raw licorice, dried and ground into powder, taken morning and evening with water or yellow wine, combined with local hot compresses: all 32 cases of acute mastitis were cured. There are also reports that pagoda tree flowers have a good effect on cervical lymph node tuberculosis: stir-fry Huai Mi and glutinous rice in a 2:1 ratio until yellow, grind into powder, take 10 g each morning on an empty stomach, avoiding sugar; more than 30 cases of lymph node tuberculosis were all cured. Both breast rock and lymph node tuberculosis belonged in ancient times to the category of "yin and yang abscesses" (yongju), so the ancients believed pagoda tree flowers treat sores and swellings.
The ancients recorded that pagoda tree flowers also treat dysentery. To treat red and white dysentery, one can use a formula of pagoda tree flowers, immature bitter orange (Zhi Qiao), white peony (Bai Shao), and licorice. Pagoda tree flowers can also treat incessant leucorrhea in women: grind pagoda tree flowers and calcined oyster shell (Duan Mu Li) in a 1:1 ratio into powder and take with yellow wine to treat leukorrhea.
The effects I use most are the hemostatic and swelling-dispersing actions of pagoda tree flowers. Combined with cape jasmine (Zhi Zi), bletilla (Bai Ji), notoginseng (San Qi), soot (Baicao Shuang), madder (Qian Cao), agrimony (Xian He Cao), and bird's-foot fern (Feng Wei Cao), they have a certain effect on bleeding symptoms in various cancer patients. Although pagoda tree flowers have no obvious anti-tumor action, they have a good effect on purpura in leukemia patients and on inflammatory swelling and pain caused by various tumors. Combined with honeysuckle (Jin Yin Hua), they can disperse swelling and stop pain. In the Yixue Qimeng, sores are treated with pagoda-tree-flower-and-honeysuckle wine: "three ge of pagoda tree flowers, five qian of honeysuckle; decoct in two bowls of wine and take, to induce sweating."
Official account: zhouzhiyuan360
Work WeChat: zhouzhiyuan1979
