What is the difference between honeysuckle and Suhua? A quick guide to tell them apart
Suhua is the flower bud of honeysuckle; after honeysuckle blooms, the tender bud portion is collected. Suhua and honeysuckle have similar ranges of use, but Suhua has much higher medicinal efficacy than honeysuckle and is more suitable for infants and children.
1. Actions and effects
Clears heat and detoxifies, cools and disperses wind-heat. Used for carbuncles, swollen sores, throat impediment, erysipelas, bloody dysentery from heat toxin, wind-heat common cold, and warm-disease fever. Medicinal effects: First, antibacterial and antiviral. That is, it has a marked inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, hemolytic streptococcus, dysentery, typhoid, meningococcus, pneumococcus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and influenza virus, etc. Second, it has the function of enhancing immunity. Honeysuckle can promote lymphocyte transformation and enhance the phagocytic function of white blood cells. Third, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic. Honeysuckle can promote the release of adrenal cortex hormones and has a marked inhibitory effect on inflammation.
2. Common medicinal formulas
1. To prevent Japanese encephalitis and epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis: honeysuckle and Forsythia suspensa. Isatis root, reed root, and licorice 15g each. Decoct in water and drink as tea, one dose per day, taken for three to five consecutive days.
2. To treat Taiyin wind-warmth, warmth-heat, and the early stage of winter-warmth, with fever but no aversion to cold and with thirst: Forsythia suspensa 50g, honeysuckle 50g, bitter platycodon root 30g, mint 30g, bamboo leaves 20 pieces, raw licorice 25g, schizonepeta spike 20g, fermented soybean 25g, burdock seed 30g. Pound the above into a powder, take 30g per dose, decoct with fresh reed root soup and take.
3. To treat dysentery: honeysuckle (put into a copper pot, roast until charred while preserving its nature) 25g. For red dysentery, take mixed with white honey water; for white dysentery, take mixed with granulated sugar water.
4. To treat heat strangury: honeysuckle, Lygodium japonicum vine, Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides, Cherokee rose root, and cogongrass rhizome 50g each. Decoct in water and take, one dose per day, with five to seven days as one course of treatment.
5. To treat biliary tract infection and wound infection: honeysuckle 50g, Forsythia suspensa, Isatis root, Scutellaria baicalensis, and wild chrysanthemum 25g each. Decoct in water and take, one dose per day.
Honeysuckle can also be directly steeped in water to drink; it is fragrant and also very good for the body.