Honeysuckle vine, also known as gold and silver flower vine, is a dried stem and branch of the Lonicera japonica Thunb., a plant in the honeysuckle family. It is harvested in autumn and winter with leaves, bundled and dried in the sun.
[Processing Method] 1. "Zhouchu Bei Jifuang" mentions: "Fine filing." "Jiaozheng Jiyanshou Bei Jufang" mentions: "Grind into powder." "Bencao Biyong" mentions: "Fresh ones pounded are more effective, and the natural juice is particularly effective." Currently, remove impurities, wash, moisten, cut into sections or thick slices, and dry.
2. Wine-processed honeysuckle vine: "Wrap the left vine, regardless of the number of stems, flowers, or leaves, soak in a bottle with wine, simmer with bran rice overnight, take out and dry, add a little licorice powder, and make it into pills the size of a Phoenix tree seed." "Medical Compendium" mentions: "Grind the leaves into a sand-pot, add a little wine, mix well." "Wu Ling Bencao" mentions: "Soak in wine, simmer until cooked, and dry."
[Characteristics of Prepared Slice] It is irregular small pieces or thick slices. The surface is reddish-brown or dark brown, and the cut surface is yellowish-white and hollow. Occasionally there are residual leaves, dark green, and slightly hairy. It has no odor, and the taste of old branches is slightly bitter, while the taste of young branches is mild.
[Processing Function] Honeysuckle vine has a sweet and cold nature and enters the lung and stomach meridians. It has the functions of clearing heat and detoxification, and dispersing wind and promoting collaterals. It is used for warm and febrile diseases, heat-toxin bloody dysentery, joint redness, swelling, and pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis, etc. Wine-soaked, cooked, and dried into pills are used to prevent the formation of ulcers after healing of thirst (Wu Ling Bencao). When used in combination with white bark, it can prevent and treat bacterial dysentery (Chijiao Yisheng, 1976). Cleaning and cutting are beneficial for the purification of medicinal materials and facilitate the preparation of decoctions.
[Processing Research] The cutting method of honeysuckle vine was first recorded in the "Zhouchu Bei Jifuang" during the Jin Dynasty, using fine filing. The method of wine processing into pills appeared in the Song Dynasty. The wine processing method was also mentioned during the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the wine-soaked, cooked, and dried method and the method of boiling to extract juice were used. The current practice mainly uses the methods of cleaning and cutting.
