Miquan Honeysuckle

Miquan Honeysuckle

Miquan Honeysuckle is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Honeysuckle is also known as "honeysuckle winter" or "second flower."

　　Origin: Miquan County, Henan Province, China.

　　Cause of origin: Located in the central part of Henan Province, at the eastern foot of Songshan Mountain. The Wuzhi Mountain area within the county has distinct seasons and moderate rainfall, making it very suitable for the growth of honeysuckle.

　　Characteristics: Honeysuckle is a perennial semi-evergreen twining shrub of the Caprifoliaceae family, which can grow up to nine meters long, with slender, hollow stems that branch frequently and have brownish bark. The leaves are opposite, ovate to oblong-ovate in shape, measuring three to eight centimeters in length and one to three centimeters in width. It flowers in early summer and continues blooming until September. The flowers grow in pairs from the leaf axils, initially opening as silvery-white and gradually turning golden yellow, creating a yellow-and-white contrast with a delicate fragrance. The flower buds are harvested and dried by baking or sun-drying to become the finished product. The flower stems are long, pale greenish-white, free of coarse heads or stems, with good color, firm bone flowers, and high medicinal quality.

　　Efficacy: Honeysuckle is cool in nature, sweet in taste, and non-toxic. It has long been a traditional folk remedy in China for clearing heat and detoxifying. The "Mingyi Bie Lu" (Supplement to the Materia Medica) by Tao Hongjing of the Northern and Southern Dynasties recorded its efficacy in treating "cold and heat pathogenic swellings." Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty wrote in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" that it can "treat all types of rheumatism, swellings, abscesses, scabies, tinea, and malignant sores caused by poison oak, as well as clear heat and detoxify." Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Miquan honeysuckle contains flavonoids such as luteolin, glucosides, saponins, and about 1% cyclohexanol. It exhibits varying degrees of inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus (white and golden), alpha- and beta-hemolytic streptococci, Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysenteriae, human-type tuberculosis bacilli, and pneumococci, making it a commonly used key herb in traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions. A proper amount of Miquan honeysuckle, combined with dandelion, wild chrysanthemum, and licorice, and decocted in water, can treat abscesses and boils; Miquan honeysuckle combined with forsythia, peppermint, schizonepeta, licorice, isatis leaf, and reed root, decocted in water, can treat early-stage febrile diseases and measles; Miquan honeysuckle combined with isatis root, coptis, and pulsatilla, decocted in water, treats epidemic dysentery due to heat toxins, high fever with delirium, abdominal pain, and stools resembling fish brains. Drinking honeysuckle tea clears heat and detoxifies, is pleasant to the taste, and refreshing.