He Di
StarNelumbo nucifera Gaertn.
Synonyms: Nelumbium speciosum Willd., Nelumbium nelumbo (L.) Druce, Nymphaea nelumbo L.
Also known as: Ho Ti · Wade–Giles
Easily confused with
- He Zi 诃子 — pinyin one letter apart. He Di: astringent, neutral; He Zi: astringent, neutral.
Safety at a glance
No rule in our tables for this herb: pregnancy, breastfeeding, incompatible pairs (十八反 / 十九畏), herb–drug, dose ceiling. This is not a safety clearance.
Not graded — No toxicity grade is recorded. Most herbs in the catalogue carry none.
Traditionally used for
- Digestion
- Bowel health
- Menstrual & women's health
☯ TCM Properties
Clears Summer-Heat and resolves Dampness; dispels stasis and stops bleeding; calms the fetus (an tai); raises Spleen yang to check prolapse.
Traditional Chinese Uses
He Di (荷蒂), the dried leaf-base disc of Nelumbo nucifera where the petiole meets the leaf blade, is a bitter, astringent, neutral herb entering the Spleen, Liver, and Large Intestine channels. Traditionally classified among herbs that clear Summer-Heat and resolve Dampness, it also dispels stasis and stops bleeding, and is valued for its ascending, stabilizing action: it calms a restless fetus (an tai) in threatened miscarriage, raises Spleen yang to check prolapse, and astringes to check summer-heat diarrhea, bloody dysentery, hematuria, and uterine bleeding. It is milder and more restricted in use than He Ye (the whole lotus leaf), which shares its summer-heat-clearing action but not its emphasis on fetal-calming and gynecological hemostasis. It is generally decocted at 5-10 g (up to 15 g for acute bleeding); when charred (He Di Tan) it is used at 3-6 g as a powder, taken with wine or rice water, to strengthen its hemostatic effect. It should be used cautiously in Spleen-Stomach deficiency-cold or Qi/Blood deficiency, since its bitter, ascending nature can aggravate these patterns.
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Botanical Description
Nelumbo nucifera, the sacred lotus, is a large aquatic perennial of the Nelumbonaceae, rooted by thick branching rhizomes in the mud of ponds, lakes and slow streams across Asia. Long flexible petioles raise round, peltate, blue-green, water-repellent leaves up to sixty centimeters wide above the water; the raised, umbilicate disc where a petiole joins the underside of its leaf blade is the plant part used as the drug He Di (荷蒂, lotus leaf-base). Solitary fragrant flowers, pink to white and up to twenty-five centimeters across, are borne on stout emergent peduncles and mature into a flat-topped, spongy obconic receptacle in which the nut-like fruits are embedded. He Di is collected by trimming this leaf-base disc from mature leaves, usually in summer or early autumn, and drying it whole; it is a distinct crude drug from He Ye (the leaf blade), Lian Fang (the seed receptacle), and Semen Nelumbinis / Lian Zi (the seed).
Still and slow-flowing fresh water — ponds, lakes, marshes, paddies and ditches — in warm-temperate to tropical lowlands; widely cultivated.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for He Di. Not a prescription.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
Contraindications
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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