Yunnan’s Herbal Treasures: The Most Popular Chinese Herbs in Yunnan

Yunnan’s Herbal Treasures

When talking about Yunnan, apart from the “Eighteen Oddities,” this land of natural beauty is home to countless plant and animal resources. Hence, the title of “Kingdom of Flora and Fauna” rightfully belongs to Yunnan! Many of these natural plants are not only edible but also excellent for nourishing and regulating the body.

By combining medicinal herbs with food, the nutritional value and health benefits of dishes can be enhanced. Yunnan’s traditional Chinese medicine is increasingly utilized, so be sure to keep these herbs in mind!

Camellia山茶花
- Characteristics: Camellia is a commonly seen plant often used for ornamental purposes in gardens. However, it also has medicinal value.
- Benefits: It is primarily used to stop bleeding, effective for symptoms like vomiting blood, nosebleeds, and external wounds.
Big Eared Grass大虎耳草
- Region: Mainly distributed in the southwestern regions.
- Benefits: This plant is used to treat conditions such as carbuncles, measles, coughs, bronchitis, vomiting blood, snake bites, and skin ulcers. It is applied externally for wounds and internally for internal injuries.
August Fruit八月瓜
- Description: August fruit is a plant with significant medicinal value, widely used in clinical medicine.
- Benefits: It is used to treat edema, rheumatic pain, bruises, and lactation issues. Its primary use is in decoction for internal consumption.
Wild Loquat野枇杷
- Description: Prefers warm, humid environments, shaded, and avoids direct sunlight. Grows well in soil rich in humus and well-drained.
- Benefits: Used for cough suppression, phlegm removal, blood circulation, diuresis, and detoxification. It treats chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis cough, hemoptysis, fatigue, joint pain, hepatitis, and hypertension.
Wild Grape野葡萄
- Description: A perennial climbing herb, smaller in size compared to grapes, found in places like Qujing, Dali, and Wenshan in Yunnan.
- Benefits: It helps in dispelling wind and dampness, cooling, diuresis, and reducing swelling. It is used for internal wind-dampness, summer heat, and urinary issues.
Goat’s Milk (Local Name)羊奶奶
- Description: Sweet and edible when ripe. Roots, leaves, and fruits are used medicinally. Grows in the mountains of Yunnan.
- Benefits: Used for wind-dispelling, activating channels, pain relief, liver and kidney health, and improving blood circulation. It is effective for rheumatic arthritis, gastrointestinal inflammation, and lumbar muscle strain.
Chinese Yam淮山药
- Characteristics: Sweet in taste, neutral in nature. Affects the spleen, lung, and kidney meridians.
- Benefits: Strengthens the spleen, nourishes the stomach, generates fluids, and benefits the kidneys. It helps balance hormones, maintains energy, and aids in tissue repair. It can prevent and alleviate conditions like malignant tumors, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, obesity, and dementia.
Panax Notoginseng三七
- Function and Indications: Dispels blood stasis, stops bleeding, reduces swelling, and relieves pain. Used for hemoptysis, hematemesis, epistaxis, rectal bleeding, uterine bleeding, external bleeding, chest and abdominal pain, and contusions.
Goji Berry枸杞
- Function and Indications: Nourishes liver and kidneys, benefits vision. Used for deficiency and fatigue, lower back and knee pain, dizziness, tinnitus, internal heat, and eye disorders.
Astragalus黄芪
- Function and Indications: Boosts qi, strengthens the exterior, promotes diuresis, expels toxins, and aids wound healing. Used for qi deficiency, fatigue, poor appetite, prolapse, rectal bleeding, sweating, and edema.
Hawthorn山楂
- Function and Indications: Aids digestion, strengthens the stomach, and promotes qi movement and blood circulation. Used for food stagnation, stomach distension, diarrhea, menstrual disorders, and high cholesterol.
Angelica当归
- Function and Indications: Nourishes blood, invigorates circulation, regulates menstruation, and relieves pain. Used for blood deficiency, dizziness, irregular menstruation, abdominal pain, constipation, rheumatism, and wounds.
Gastrodia Elata天麻
- Description: Moist but not dry, primarily enters the liver meridian. Effective for calming the liver and extinguishing wind. Mainly grown in Zhaotong, Yunnan.
- Benefits: Used for calming the liver, treating headache, dizziness, epilepsy, and tetany. It helps relieve symptoms caused by internal wind and phlegm.
Aged Tangerine Peel陈皮
- Characteristics: Warm, pungent, and bitter; enters the spleen and lung meridians.
- Function: Regulates the middle jiao, disperses qi and phlegm, and smooths the five zang organs.
Longan桂圆
- Benefits: Tonifies the heart and spleen, nourishes blood, and calms the mind. Used for qi and blood deficiency, palpitations, memory loss, insomnia, and pallor.
Lily百合
- Function: Nourishes yin, moistens the lungs, clears the heart, and calms the mind. Used for chronic cough due to yin deficiency, phlegm with blood, restlessness, and insomnia. It has a soothing effect on the lungs and mind.
Corn Silk玉米须
- Benefits: Sweet, bland, neutral; enters the kidney, liver, and gallbladder meridians. It promotes diuresis, reduces swelling, and supports liver and gallbladder health. Used for edema, urinary issues, jaundice, cholecystitis, gallstones, hypertension, and diabetes.
Red Bean红豆
- Characteristics: Sweet and neutral. Strengthens the spleen, resolves dampness, disperses blood stasis, and detoxifies.
- Uses: For edema, beriberi, postpartum lactation issues, diarrhea, jaundice, and hemorrhoids.
Almond杏仁
- Characteristics and Effects: Rich in protein, fats, sugars, carotene, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin P, calcium, phosphorus, and iron. Bitter, slightly warm, with minor toxicity. Moistens the lungs and relieves constipation. Used for lung heat, cough, dry throat, and constipation.
Luo Han Guo罗汉果
- Characteristics and Effects: Sweet and cool, clears heat, moistens the lungs, and relieves cough and constipation.
Perilla紫苏
- Description: A commonly used herb, available in purple, green, and white varieties, with green being more common. Perilla is pungent, warm, and affects the spleen and lung meridians.
- Benefits: Perilla leaves and stems have warming, dispersing, and chest-opening effects. The leaves are good for dispersing cold and regulating qi; the stems help with chest opening and pain relief. Perilla can enhance the flavor of grilled meats and aid digestion.
Licorice甘草
- Function and Indications: Strengthens the spleen, boosts qi, clears heat and toxins, resolves phlegm, relieves pain, and harmonizes other herbs. Used for spleen deficiency, fatigue, palpitations, cough with phlegm, abdominal pain, sores, and toxicity.
Snakeberry蛇莓
- Note: Not for consumption.
- Medicinal Use: Clears heat, cools blood, reduces swelling, and detoxifies. Used for heat illnesses, convulsions, cough, vomiting blood, sore throat, dysentery, abscesses, carbuncles, and snake bites.