Forsythia, the heart-shaped fruit

In early spring, weeping forsythia (Forsythia suspensa) is covered in golden-yellow, bell-shaped flowers, even before its leaves appear. Its fruit, Lian Qiao in Chinese, is a small capsule that opens into two valves; Li Shizhen describes it as heart-shaped, made of two joined halves enclosing a highly fragrant kernel. The name is very old and already appears in the oldest Chinese dictionary. Its reference growing area is south-eastern Shanxi, around the ancient Zezhou, and the fruit is one of the “ten great herbs of Shanxi”. The trade distinguishes the green fruit, Qing Qiao, picked in early autumn, from the ripe fruit, Lao Qiao, which is milder.

Clearing Heat from the upper body

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, forsythia fruit is slightly cold and bitter: bitterness clears and brings down, slight coldness cools without chilling. It enters the Lung, Heart and Small Intestine. It is credited with clearing Heat and undoing its virulence, and with dispersing what knots when Heat settles in. The Zhen Zhu Nang recognises its power to remove all Heat from the Upper Burner, the upper part of the body according to tradition, and to clear passing Heat from the Heart meridian.

Bitter but light, it pushes Heat outwards

Its originality lies in a dual character: bitter, it is also light, floats upwards and towards the surface, and its subtle scent helps it push outwards what comes from outside. This makes it one of the first plants at the very onset of a Wind-Heat attack. With honeysuckle, in equal parts, it forms the best-known pair for clearing Heat, at the heart of Yin Qiao San, the formula named after them.