Traditionally used for
- Eye health
- Ears & hearing
- Nose & throat
- Cough & breathing
- Colds & fever
- Digestion
- Skin
☯ TCM Properties
Clears Heat and removes toxicity
Traditional Chinese Uses
Jin Lian Hua (Flos Trollii) is the dried flower of Trollius chinensis (Ranunculaceae), gathered from the cool grasslands of northern China. Bitter in flavour and cold in nature, entering the Lung and Stomach channels, it clears Heat and resolves toxicity, with a particular affinity for Heat-toxin of the upper respiratory tract and throat.
It is chiefly used for Wind-Heat and Heat-toxin patterns presenting as sore and swollen throat, acute and chronic tonsillitis and pharyngitis, mouth and tongue sores (aphthae), and Heat affecting the ears and eyes with earache and painful, red eyes; it also serves for upper respiratory infections, influenza and bronchitis. Often prepared simply as a decoction or infused as a medicinal tea, it appears in modern heat-clearing throat preparations. As a bitter, cold herb it is used cautiously in those with Spleen-Stomach deficiency cold.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Jin Lian Hua (金蓮花) is the dried flower of Trollius chinensis Bunge (Ranunculaceae), a perennial herb native to the cool grasslands and forest margins of northern China, including Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Liaoning. The plant grows 30–70 cm tall with palmately divided basal leaves and showy solitary golden-yellow to orange flowers 3–5 cm across, blooming in summer. The fully opened flowers are harvested and dried in the shade. In TCM, Jin Lian Hua is classified as bitter and cool, entering the Lung and Stomach channels, and is used to clear heat, detoxify fire poison, and benefit the throat. Classical and modern indications include acute tonsillitis, pharyngitis, otitis media, conjunctivitis, and upper respiratory infections; the flower is widely consumed as a medicinal tea in northern China.
Active Constituents
Orientin
Flavone C-glycoside (luteolin 8-C-glucoside)Concentration: the dominant flavonoid of the dried flower; total flavonoids of the flower have been reported to reach a mass fraction of about 15%, of which orientin and vitexin are the two highest-content components. No raw-drug minimum is set in the 2020 Chinese Pharmacopoeia, which instead specifies orientin in the finished preparations (not less than 1.6 mg per lozenge; not less than 16.0 mg per granule sachet)
Orientin is the principal analytical marker used to standardise Jin Lian Hua preparations. Reported activities are antioxidant and antimicrobial; in the reviewed data orientin inhibited Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis at a minimum inhibitory concentration of 25 mg/L against each. Caco-2 monolayer work shows it is a poorly permeable C-glycoside, which limits how much of the marker compound actually reaches the systemic circulation after an oral dose.
Vitexin
Flavone C-glycoside (apigenin 8-C-glucoside)Concentration: co-dominant with orientin in the dried flower; the two are assayed together as the quality markers of the drug
Vitexin is the apigenin analogue of orientin and behaves similarly on absorption. In cell work on Trollius chinensis flavonoids, orientin and vitexin were the fractions responsible for the antioxidant and antiproliferative effects attributed to the crude flower.
Isoswertisin
Methylated flavone C-glycosideOne of the minor C-glycosides isolated from the ethanol extract of the dried flowers, alongside isoswertiajaponin. It contributes to the flavonoid fingerprint used to distinguish authentic Trollius chinensis from substitute Trollius species.
Isoswertiajaponin
Methylated flavone C-glycosideA minor flavone C-glycoside of the flower, reported together with isoswertisin from the ethanol extract. Its pharmacology in this species has not been separately characterised.
Trollioside
Phenolic glycosideA glycoside first described from the dried flowers of Trollius chinensis and named for the genus. It is used as a chemotaxonomic marker rather than as a documented active principle; no separate pharmacology has been established for it.
Proglobeflowery acid
Phenolic acidA phenolic acid isolated from the flowers together with trollioside and veratric acid. It is one of the non-flavonoid markers of the drug; its own activity is not characterised.
Veratric acid
Benzoic acid derivative (3,4-dimethoxybenzoic acid)A simple aromatic acid reported from the ethanol extract of the flowers. It is a common plant metabolite and is not considered a principal active constituent of this drug.
Cirsimaritin
Methoxylated flavone aglyconeA flavone aglycone isolated from the flowers. Unlike the C-glycosides, aglycones of this type are readily absorbed, so even minor amounts may contribute disproportionately to systemic effects.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Substitute Trollius species dispensed as Jin Lian Hua (Trollius ledebourii, Trollius macropetalus, Trollius asiaticus, Trollius farreri, Trollius buddae, Trollius ranunculoides)
The substitution itself is well documented: reviews of this drug state plainly that Trollius ledebourii and Trollius macropetalus, among other congeners, are used in place of Trollius chinensis in some regions, and that the resulting market material is of confusingly variable quality. Compounding this, the source plants of Jin Lian Hua have not been given a single unified pharmacopoeial monograph in the way most Chinese medicinal materials have, and authentication provisions are thinner than for comparable drugs. Published pharmacological work on the genus has concentrated disproportionately on Trollius altaicus rather than on Trollius chinensis, so genus-level claims should not be read across to this species. What is not established is any specific clinical consequence of the substitution.
Clinical note: Buy on an orientin and vitexin assay with a species-level identity test (thin-layer or HPLC fingerprint), not on appearance. Where an unexpectedly weak or strong response is seen between batches, suspect a species change before adjusting the dose.
Evidence Tier
Limited evidence · 2 studiesRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
2
0 verified · 2 unverified
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Effects of orientin and vitexin from Trollius chinensis on the growth and apoptosis of esophageal cancer EC-109 cells
Orientin and vitexin isolated from Trollius chinensis inhibited proliferation of the EC-109 human oesophageal carcinoma line and induced apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. This is cell-culture work on the two purified marker flavonoids, not on the crude flower, and it carries no implication for the herb's clinical use in throat and upper-respiratory conditions.
Characterization of the Intestinal Absorption of Seven Flavonoids from the Flowers of Trollius chinensis Using the Caco-2 Cell Monolayer Model
Seven flavonoids from the flowers were profiled across Caco-2 monolayers to characterise their intestinal absorption. The practical point for prescribers is that the flavone C-glycosides that define this drug are poorly permeable, so plasma exposure to the assayed markers after an oral dose is low relative to the amount administered.
Historical Texts
Ben Cao Gang Mu Shi Yi (Gleanings from the Compendium of Materia Medica), Zhao Xuemin
Qing dynasty, 1765References
- Yang K, Wang Z, Wang P, Wang L, Li Y, He L, Liu X, Xu J, Duan Y, Ma W. A Comprehensive Research Review of Herbal Textual Research, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Traditional Uses, Clinical Application, Safety Evaluation, and Quality Control of Trollius chinensis Bunge . Pharmaceuticals (2024) [DOI]
- He L, Wang Z, Lu J, Qin C, He J, Ren W, Liu X. Trollius chinensis Bunge: A Comprehensive Review of Research on Botany, Materia Medica, Ethnopharmacological Use, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, and Quality Control . Molecules (2024) [DOI]
- Yuan M, Wang RF, Liu LJ, Yang X, Peng YS, Sun ZX. Contribution evaluation of the floral parts to orientin and vitexin concentrations in the flowers of Trollius chinensis . Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines (2014) [DOI]
- Yu XX, Huang JY, Xu D, Xie ZY, Xie ZS, Xu XJ. Isolation and purification of orientin and vitexin from Trollius chinensis Bunge by high-speed counter-current chromatography . Natural Product Research (2014) [DOI]
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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