Wu Lian Mei
StarCayratia japonica (Thunb.) Gagnep.
Synonyms: Causonis japonica (Thunb.) Raf., Vitis japonica Thunb., Cissus japonica (Thunb.) Willd.
☯ TCM Properties
Clear Heat, cools the Blood, removes toxicity, eliminates Dampness and resolves swelling
Traditional Chinese Uses
Wu Lian Mei is the whole herb of Cayratia japonica (Vitaceae), a slender, pedately five-foliolate climbing vine. Bitter and sour with a cold nature, it clears Heat, cools the Blood, resolves toxicity and drains Dampness to reduce swelling, entering the Heart, Liver and Stomach channels. It is used chiefly for toxic-heat sores — carbuncles, furuncles, boils, erysipelas and mumps — where the fresh herb is crushed and applied topically as well as taken internally. Other uses include damp-heat dysentery and jaundice, painful bloody urinary dribbling, rheumatic joint pain, and snake and insect bites.
The fresh plant is favoured for external poultices; the dried herb is decocted. It is a folk Heat-clearing, toxin-resolving remedy rather than a core classical herb.
Western Herbalism Properties
Botanical Description
Cayratia japonica is a slender herbaceous, tendril-climbing vine of the grape family (Vitaceae), widespread across East and Southeast Asia. It climbs by leaf-opposed tendrils, with reddish, angular, often glabrescent stems. The leaves are pedately compound, usually with five leaflets on a common petiole; the central leaflet is largest, elliptic to ovate, with coarsely serrate margins. Small greenish-yellow flowers are borne in flat, long-stalked axillary cymes, developing into small globose berries that ripen from green through red to blue-black. The entire aerial herb (Herba Cayratiae), harvested in summer and autumn and used fresh or dried, is the medicinal part, applied to clear heat, cool the blood, resolve toxicity, drain dampness, and reduce swelling in sores, carbuncles, and mumps.
Thickets, hedgerows, roadsides, waste ground, forest margins and streambanks, from lowlands to mid-elevation hills.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 6-15g | Daily | — | — | — |
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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