Japanese pagoda tree, the flower that weighs and descends

Huai Hua simply reads “the flower of the huai”, the tree botanists now call Styphnolobium japonicum, long known as Sophora japonica. The huai is one of the most meaning-laden trees in China: it flowers in the heart of summer, when the examination season once opened, hence the saying “when the huai flowers turn yellow, the candidates bustle”. Huai Mi refers to the unopened bud, considered the superior and richest form; it is picked in July and August, before it opens, and dried the same day, as it blackens quickly. A good bud is plump, oval, with a clear green calyx. It should not be confused with the black locust, the street and honey “acacia”, which is not the same plant.

Cooling the Blood, from below

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the flower is slightly cool and has a single flavour, bitter. Now bitter brings down: this is not a light, rising flower like most flowers of the pharmacopoeia, but a “thick and plunging” flower, which works in the lower body. Linked with the Liver, which stores the Blood, and with the Large Intestine, its master action is to cool the Blood: according to tradition, Heat that has entered the Blood makes it unsteady, and the bitter coolness of the flower puts out this Heat so that the Blood regains a calm course. Through the Large Intestine, it also clears Damp-Heat.

Bringing the Liver Fire back down

Its second action counts just as much: clearing Liver Fire. According to tradition, when the Liver generates too much Fire, it flares upwards; the bitterness of the flower brings it back down. It is for this side that it is paired with chrysanthemum buds, and this is what makes it singular: few substances cool the Blood and bring Liver Fire back down at once. The bud also differs from the fruit of the same tree, Huai Jiao, a separate herb, which additionally moistens the Intestines. Modern research takes a particular interest in rutin, of which the bud is one of the richest plant sources.

Key benefits

Coolness & Heat Cleared

Bitter and slightly cool, the huai flower clears Heat settled in the Blood, according to Chinese tradition.

Lower Body & Damp-Heat

Through the Large Intestine, it clears Damp-Heat, where its bitterness naturally takes it.

Fire Calmed & Coolness

By bringing back down the Liver Fire that flares upwards, it soothes sensations of heat.