Jin Yin Hua, “the gold and silver flower”
Jin Yin Hua reads “the gold and silver flower”: Japanese honeysuckle flowers open white, then turn yellow two or three days later, so that gold and silver bloom together on the vine. They always grow in pairs, hence its other name, “mandarin duck vine”, after the birds that go about as inseparable couples. The flower bud is picked from May to June, just before it opens, when it has turned from green to white; Shandong, and especially Pingyi county, nicknamed “the land of honeysuckle”, is its best-known growing region. It is one of the substances that are both a food and a medicinal plant.
Clearing Heat, without harshness
In traditional Chinese medicine, the flower is cold and sweet, and that is what makes its reputation: it clears Heat without harshness, where so many cold herbs are bitter and aggressive. It is associated with the Lung, the Heart, the Stomach and the Large Intestine. Light and fragrant, it also has a gentle dispersing force that carries it upwards and towards the surface: it gently pushes Wind-Heat outwards as long as it has only reached the surface. A classical author sums up its character in one phrase: in what it clears out, there is something that supplements, and it does not leave the terrain exhausted behind it.
A summer drink, a famous pair
Tradition also credits it with clearing summer Heat: as an infusion, or distilled into honeysuckle flower water, it is a traditional summer drink in China. With forsythia fruit, it forms the most famous pair among Heat-clearing herbs, at the heart of Yin Qiao San. Only Lonicera japonica may bear the name Jin Yin Hua: the mountain flower, Shan Yin Hua, taken from other species, is a distinct herb. Modern research is particularly interested in chlorogenic acid.
Key benefits
Heat cleared & Wind dispersed
Cold and light, the flower clears Heat and dispels Wind-Heat from the surface, according to Chinese tradition.
Gentle coolness & Stomach spared
Sweet rather than bitter, it cools and soothes without harshness, and is kinder to the Stomach than other cold herbs.
Summer & coolness
A traditional summer drink in China, it clears the Heat of the hot season.
