In last session, we have learned about environmental impacts on medicinal property and function Now let's move on to the seasonal weather change and Chinese medicine As everyone knows, with the change of seasons plants grow under the law of nature So do Chinese herbs their growth are also influenced by seasonal changes The growth rhythm with seasonal changes will produce impact on the property and function of Chinese herbs Here I'd like to introduce two representative herbs Ban Xia (Rhizoma Pinelliae) and Kuan Dong Hua (Flos Farfarae) Firstly, let's take a look at Ban Xia We can tell from its Chinese name "ban xia" that the growth characteristic of this herb is connected with the season According to ancient Chinese Ban Xia grows in May, which is in the middle of summer Of course, May is in the lunar calendar May to June in solar calendar is summer In the middle of summer Ban Xia grows fastest According to its growth rhythm usually in spring (in February or March) it begins to sprout and starts growing The temperature at that time is about eight to ten degrees In April or May it gradually grows more and more vigorously In May or June it becomes properous However, in midsummer like the hottest dog days when the temperature is over 35 degrees centigrade its aboveground part will be found to have sprout tumble followed by withering This growth habit have great impacts on the function of Ban Xia From February and March to May and June its yang qi grows most prosperously which endows Ban Xia with a functional characteristic of Dispersing, warming, drying, opening and breaking These characteristics enable Ban Xia to resolve phlegm But after midsummer in dog days as you can imagine that was the hottest days in a year As we say yang qi is the most vigorous at that time floating outside or dispersing on the surface of the body And by this time the aboveground part of Ban Xia will be found to have sprout tumble and withering absorbing the most exuberant yang qi to the underground And the medicinal parts of Ban Xia are its underground tubers So this process is actually leading yang qi on the surface to the underground or internal parts which is called leading yang into yin The growth rule endows Ban Xia with two characteristics First, dispersing, warming, drying, opening and breaking enabling it to resolve phlegm Its property of leading yang into yin makes it can down-regulate qi From this, we can summarize the application of Ban Xia Since it can disperse, warm, dry, open and break and resolve phlegm with no doubt, it can be used to treat phlegm In the treatment of phlegm Ban Xia is praised as the effective medicinal for resolving phlegm Its function of resolving phlegm according to different features of phlegm is devided into several types For example, in treating cough with excessive phlegm Ban Xia can resolve phlegm and arrest cough in treatment of globus hysteriocus Chest tightness, fullness and impediment in Chinese medicine Ban Xia is also effective It can resolve phlegm and relieve fullness Globus hysteriocus what is it It's the feeling of a plum-stone in the throat stuck in the throat It can neither be spit out nor swallowed In Chinese medicine it is mainly related to phlegm It should be treated by resolving phlegm Phlegm here is invisible Chest tightness, distention and fullness, etc all belong to invisible phlegm Chest impediment refers to chest tightness and pain resulted from obstructin of phlegm qi To treat these problems we need to resolve phlegm and relieve fullness Third it is also effective for visible phlegm such as scrofula and subcutaneous nodule Scrofula, also known as lymphoid tuberculosis together with some conditions like nodules and masses, can all be treated with Ban Xia The first characteristic of Ban Xia is to resolve phlegm and disperse masses The functions of dispersing, warming, drying, opening and breaking masses enable Ban Xia to resolve phlegm and treat various kinds of phlegm This is the first aspect The second aspect is Ban Xia in midsummer, is found to have sprout tumble can lead lead yang into yin This property enables Ban Xia to down regulate qi so it's often used in treating vomiting due to adverse up flow of stomach qi For this condition, Ban Xia directly targets the adverse up flow of stomach qi This is how it works So it has very good effect for vomiting It can be used for various types of vomiting resulted from adverse up flow of stomach qi Its second action of leading yang into yin is more significant in the treatment of insomnia We all know that in terms of yin and yang daytime is yang while night is yin Yang qi is scattered outside because of the excitement during daytime whilst at night, yang qi should stay inside and harmonize with yin so that one can sleep well If yang qi is still stirring at night or failing to harmonize with yin insomnia occurs As a result, to treat insomnia the floating yang should be led into the yin inside Only by this can insomnia be cured The situation of sprout tumble in midsummer enables the floating yang introduced into the root of Ban Xia So this herb is regarded as one leading yang into yin and can therefore be used to treat insomnia It is usually combined with another herb withering in summer which is Xia Ku Cao (Prunella Vulgaris) in the treatment of insomnia You may know the Huangdi Nei Jing only recorded a total of 13 formulae. There is one formula concerning Ban Xia's treatment in insomnia called Ban Xia Shu Mi decoction So far, this formula still remains effective for insomnia From this, we can imagine the significant effect of Ban Xia's leading yang into yin in the treatment of insomnia. From the introduction of Ban Xia we can understand why its name is related to the season And why does it have such functions of breaking masses down-regulating qi adn leading yang into yin They are influenced by seasonal changes and the resulting particular effects such as exuberant growth, dispersing and breaking masses sprout tumble and leading yang into yin This shows the enormous influence of seasonal changes That's all about Ban Xia Another drug that I'd like to introduce Kuan Dong Hua It should be admitted that among Chinese herbs Kuan Dong Hua is neither very famous nor of great importance Nonetheless, for a doctor specialized in treating cough it is worth great attention We now think Kuan Dong Hua can treat all types of cough We should be aware about the concept of all types of cough Cough can be caused by multiple complicated factors and can be very difficult to treat The reason for that arises from a variety of causes In fact, doctors wish a disease or a symptom could be treated by a corresponding herb Chinese medicine highlights syndrome differentiation which means to treat problems according to disease causes Nevertheless, in Chinese herbs there are symptom-oriented herbs For example, Kuan Dong Hua is an important and specific herb for all types of cough Why? It is related to its growth characteristic How did it get its name We know most flowers bloom in spring as we say, spring blossoms However, Kuan Dong Hua is an exception It blooms in winter What does it indicate Blooming in freezing cold weather shows the it is full of yang (heat) qi inside as well as upward and outward Otherwise how can it bloom Thus, we consider Kuan Dong Hua has the functions of dispersing and diffusing can therefore disperse the lung to stop coughing warm the lung to stop coughing This indicates it can be used to treat cough due to cold and failure of lung-qi to disperse That was one side. The other side is that generally speaking, flowers are usually collected aboveground but Kuan Dong Hua is not It is collected in winter and dugged underground for its flower bud This indicates it is endowed with the yin and cold nature from the soil So this herb can not only clear, moisten, descend and treat cough due to lung-heat or failure of lung qi to disperse It can be used in cough due to lung qi obstruction and failure of lung qi to descend It can be used for cough due to lung cold and lung heat Do it mean this herb is effective for all types of cough Whether it can be effective for all types of cough is closely related to its seasonal growth characteristic So concerning seasonal factors we have introduced two herbs One is Ban Xia the other is Kuan Dong Hua One is connected with summer the other is connected with winter Of course, we have other herbs for example, in relation to spring We have a herb called Xin Yi Hua (Flos Magnoliae) also known as Wang Chun Hua a special herb to disperse the lung and treat nasal problems And in relation to autumn we have Ju Hua (chrysanthemun flower) All the above herbs reflect how they are influenced by seasonal changes and environment By these changes, our ancients worked out the characteristics and effects of Chinese herbs which demonstrated the wisdom of our ancients Now we have finished the relationships between seasonal change and Chinese herbs by giving two examples
