About This Herb*
Traditional Chinese Medicine background and properties
Herb Description*
Lotus leaf is a gentle, versatile herb best known for clearing summer heat and supporting healthy digestion. It helps the body cope with hot, humid weather and is widely used in traditional teas and porridges during summer. It also has a mild blood-cooling action and is used for certain types of bleeding.
Herb Category*
Main Actions*
- Clears Summer-Heat and Resolves Dampness
- Raises Clear Yang
- Cools the Blood and Stops Bleeding
How These Actions Work*
'Clears Summer-Heat and resolves Dampness' means He Ye can clear the hot, heavy, oppressive feeling that comes from exposure to summer heat and humidity. In TCM, Summer-Heat is a seasonal pathogen that causes symptoms like fever, intense thirst, irritability, and scanty dark urine. He Ye's bitter taste and aromatic quality help clear this heat and transform the dampness that often accompanies it. Fresh lotus leaf is particularly effective for this purpose and is commonly used in teas and porridges during hot weather.
'Raises the clear Yang of the Spleen' refers to He Ye's ability to lift the Spleen's ascending function. The Spleen is responsible for transforming food and fluids and sending the refined nutrients upward. When this ascending function fails, symptoms like diarrhea, a heavy sinking feeling, and even organ prolapse can occur. Classical physicians noted that the lotus leaf grows upward out of muddy water and faces the sky, symbolising a powerful lifting force. Li Dongyuan famously used He Ye in his Zhi Shu Wan formula specifically for this ascending property. This makes He Ye useful for summer diarrhea caused by both heat and Spleen weakness.
'Cools the Blood and stops bleeding' means He Ye can address bleeding conditions that arise from heat in the blood, such as nosebleeds, vomiting blood, blood in the stool, or heavy menstrual bleeding. For this purpose, the charred form (He Ye Tan) is more commonly used, as the charring process enhances its astringent, blood-stopping ability.
Patterns Addressed*
In TCM, symptoms cluster into recognizable patterns of disharmony that reveal what's out of balance in the body. He Ye is traditionally associated with these specific patterns.
The following describes this herb's classification within Traditional Chinese Medicine theory and is provided for educational purposes only.
Why He Ye addresses this pattern
He Ye directly targets Summer-Heat and Dampness through its bitter taste and aromatic quality. Its bitter flavour clears heat and dries dampness, while its light, ascending nature lifts turbid dampness away from the Spleen and Stomach. It enters the Liver, Spleen, and Stomach channels, which are the primary organs affected when Summer-Heat and Dampness invade the middle burner. This makes He Ye especially well suited for the oppressive heat and digestive sluggishness typical of this pattern.
A practitioner would look for one or more of these signs
Low-grade fever from summer heat exposure
Thirst with irritability
Loose stools from summer dampness
Nausea with poor appetite in hot weather
Why He Ye addresses this pattern
He Ye's distinctive ascending nature directly counteracts the downward sinking tendency of Spleen Qi. Classical texts describe the lotus leaf as growing upward from murky water and facing the sky, symbolising its powerful lifting quality. By entering the Spleen and Stomach channels and raising the clear Yang, He Ye helps restore the Spleen's normal ascending function. This is why Li Dongyuan selected He Ye for his Zhi Shu Wan, using it specifically to raise the Spleen's clear Qi.
A practitioner would look for one or more of these signs
Chronic loose stools from Spleen weakness
Tiredness with heaviness after eating
Poor appetite with abdominal distension
Why He Ye addresses this pattern
He Ye enters the Liver channel and has a cooling action on the Blood. When heat enters the Blood level, it can force blood out of the vessels, causing various types of bleeding. He Ye's bitter taste clears this heat while its astringent quality (especially in charred form) helps contain the blood within the vessels. This dual action of cooling heat and stopping bleeding makes it effective for blood-heat related hemorrhage.
A practitioner would look for one or more of these signs
Nosebleeds from blood heat
Bloody stool
Excessive menstrual bleeding from blood heat
TCM Properties*
Neutral
Bitter (苦 kǔ)
Leaf (叶 yè)
This is partial information on the herb's TCM properties. More detailed information is available on the herb's dedicated page
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.