Chinese Medicine Half Monthly Talk | Inula japonica

· Interesting stories ·

The name of Inula is quite special.

Inula is a common wild flower for viewing in the wild. Some people don't know it from their own life scenes, but they heard its name from the palace drama "The Legend of Zhen Huan". The Inula soup that Zhen Huan drank was "made of Inula, honey, and Xinjiang", and Xinjiang is madder that can dye fabrics. The Inula and madder in this bowl of plant drink can be used for medicinal purposes.

The flowers of the Asteraceae family are golden and show off their elegance. They are particularly beautiful. The golden color and the shape of the flowers are like ancient copper coins, so people call it money flower.

Pi Rixiu, a famous Tang Dynasty poet, wrote a poem titled "Money Flower":

"Yin and Yang are charcoal and the earth is a furnace, casting out money without a mold. Don't show off your beauty to the world, for you don't know how to help the poor."

This money plant cannot directly provide people with money, but it is used to provide spiritual sustenance or cure diseases, and is still particularly valued by people in ancient and modern times. In ancient times, a poet named Zheng Rong went out for an outing and saw this flower in full bloom. He wanted to write a poem on the theme of money plant. Unexpectedly, it was not easy to come up with a good sentence. While he was thinking hard, he fell into a dream beside the flower. In the dream, he saw a woman throwing him a lot of money and said with a smile: "It will moisten your pen." The poet woke up and only felt a handful of money plants in his arms. Since then, people have jokingly called the Inula flower "moisten your pen flower."
"Brush-Reaching Flower. Zheng Rong once wrote a poem about a golden money flower, but it was not finished. He dreamed of a woman in red clothes, who threw coins to him and said, "This is for your brush-reaching." When he woke up, he found several flowers in his bosom, so he jokingly called it the brush-reaching flower." ("Flower History Left Edition" Volume 15)
The medicinal effects of Inula flower are naturally praised by poets. Fang Yikui, a poet in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, used it to express his feelings in his "Ten Poems of Autumn Flowers - Inula Flower":

"A string of gold shops clustered in green, and the fields are full of children. Please clean my eyes from reading and put them in the medicine box of the government office."

Photo: Ding Zhaoping

Among the common wild flowers of the Asteraceae family, Inula is the earliest to bloom. It blooms in the sixth month of the lunar calendar, so it is also called June chrysanthemum or summer chrysanthemum. It blooms in the summer, so it has a strange ancient name - "Dao Geng".

In Er Ya Shi Cao, the name of the flower of Inula is explained as: "Fu means stealing Geng." Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica further explains this, "Geng means gold, and it means that it blooms yellow flowers in summer, stealing the gold energy." In other words, the flower of Inula blooms "yellow flowers of autumn" before autumn because it steals the breath of autumn in advance, that is, steals the gold energy - hence the name "Dao Geng". As for the name of Inula, Kou Zongshi's Ben Cao Yan Yi in the Northern Song Dynasty explained it from the shape of its flowers and the fact that it blooms at the top: "The flowers are lush and light yellow-green, round and cover the bottom", hence the name Inula.

The character "覆" is a commonly used Chinese first-level character. Its original meaning is to turn over, to overturn, and it is extended to cover. "Shuowen" says: "覆, overturn, also called cover." It is further extended to overthrow, cover wings, cover shelter, cover inspection, cover letter, etc. Therefore, the special name of Inula flower can be associated with its special medicinal properties for Chinese medicine practitioners. Its medicinal properties sink downward, which means "cover". From "盗庚" it steals the metal energy and has the property of heavy town descending, which can be inferred from the theory of the five elements in Chinese medicine.

The medicinal properties of Inula flower are quite special. Chinese medicine has a saying that "all flowers are ascending, but Inula is the only one that descends". Inula flower was first recorded in Shennong's Herbal Classic and was listed as a lower-grade medicine. Its efficacy clearly states that it "descends Qi". Among the flower medicines whose nature and flavor are mostly ascending and divergent, Inula flower is a unique one. Although Inula flower is light in texture and should float upward, it descends by descending, both to the lung Qi and the stomach Qi. Therefore, the predecessors emphasized that "all flowers are ascending, but Inula is the only one that descends". Li Shizhen concluded that it is a medicine for the lung and large intestine meridians, "and its function in treating all diseases is to move water, descend Qi and unclog blood vessels".

The famous prescriptions of Xuanfuhua include Xuanfu Daizhe Decoction in Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Xuanfuhua Decoction in Synopsis of Golden Chamber, both of which use Xuanfuhua as the main medicine. Xuanfu Daizhe Decoction has the effects of lowering adverse qi and resolving phlegm, invigorating qi and stomach and tonifying deficiency. It mainly treats nausea and vomiting of cold syndrome of stomach qi deficiency, as well as belching of deficiency and fullness of middle jiao. Xuanfuhua Decoction has the effects of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, regulating qi and unblocking collaterals, and mainly treats diseases of chest pain caused by blood stasis. The famous doctor Shi Jinmo used Xuanfuhua Decoction to treat emotional diseases with Xuanfuhua Decoction, which is one of his commonly used drug pairs. The dried above-ground part of Xuanfuhua is Jinfeicao, which can lower qi, eliminate phlegm, and promote water circulation. It is good at treating cough, asthma, excessive sputum, and chest and diaphragm fullness.

· Source of medicinal materials ·

The dried inflorescence of Inula japonica or Inula rubra, a plant of the Asteraceae family.

· Nature and flavor ·

It tastes bitter, spicy and salty and is slightly warm in nature.

It enters the lung, spleen, stomach and large intestine meridians .

It can reduce qi, eliminate phlegm, promote diuresis and stop vomiting.

It is suitable for wind-cold cough, phlegm accumulation, chest tightness, wheezing, coughing and sputum, vomiting and belching, and hardness under the heart.

For internal use: decoct in water, 3-9g, decocted in a wrapped form.

· Diet therapy recommendation ·

Inula flower egg custard

Ingredients: 9 grams of Inula japonica, 2 eggs, a little salt, MSG and sesame oil.
Method: Rinse the Inula flower briefly, add water to a pot, boil for 15 minutes, remove the residue and keep the soup. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the soup, salt and MSG, stir, add a little water, put the bowl in a steamer, steam the egg custard as usual, add a few drops of sesame oil, and it is ready to eat.

This egg custard makes use of the effect of Inula japonica in lowering qi, resolving phlegm and stopping vomiting. It is suitable for patients with excessive gastric acid, belching and vomiting to choose diet therapy, which can relieve symptoms.

Inula flower white porridge

Ingredients: 9 grams of Inula japonica, 50 grams of rice, and appropriate amount of white sugar.

Method: Soak the Inula flower in water, boil it, filter the juice and set aside. Add water to rice and cook porridge over low heat. When the porridge is almost cooked, add the Inula flower juice, boil it for a while, add sugar and stir well, and it is ready to eat.
This porridge has the effect of lowering qi, stopping vomiting, eliminating phlegm and promoting water circulation. It is suitable for use as a diet therapy for people with cough, asthma, excessive phlegm, chest fullness and stuffiness, and vomiting and retching.