I hope you’re feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to learn about herbs! 

Let’s talk about brightening the eyes…

HERB FACT:

Ju Hua (chrysanthemi flos) and Gou Qi Zi (lycii fructus) brighten the eyes, treating red eyes, swollen and itchy eyes, blurry vision, spots in the eyes, and dizziness.

EXPLANATION:

Certain herbs have an action of brightening the eyes (明目 míng mù).

This can mean two things:

1. clearing the Liver and brightening the eyes
2. tonifying Liver and Kidney to brighten the eyes

So if heat or wind-heat gets into the Liver channel, it can rise up and irritate the eyes, causing redness, itching, swelling, and pain.

On the other hand, if Liver yin and blood fails to nourish the eyes, you can end up with blurry vision, spots in the vision, dizziness, or diminished visual acuity.

Ju Hua (chrysanthemi flos)

Ju Hua is chrysanthemum flower. Since it’s a flower, it’s light and ascendant. It can go up to the face and clear the eyes, but it can also direct Liver fire downward.

Gou Qi Zi (lycii fructus)

Gou Qi Zi is goji berry. Some books put it in the Tonify Blood category, but others put it in the Tonify Yin category. It tonifies Liver blood and Kidney yin to nourish the eyes.

So together, these make a great pair: Ju Hua ascends, disperses wind-heat, and drains Liver channel heat. Gou Qi Zi nourishes and moistens, but because it tonifies the Liver, it can also help anchor Liver yang back downwards.

(Ju Hua is actually also sweet in flavor, so it does have a small action of benefitting Liver yin and blood. But probably not as much as Gou Qi Zi.)

A BEAUTIFUL SPRINGTIME TEA:

Because chrysanthemum flower and goji berries are easy to get, it’s common to use these together to make a tea. Ju Hua is light and refreshing, and the Gou Qi Zi adds an attractive color and a sweet flavor.

Wind is associated with the season of spring. So this tea especially beneficial during the springtime when the wind of the season affects the eyes.

(I think this is just a poetic way of describing seasonal allergies.)

But it’s not just for allergies. Benksy says, “It is an ideal everyday drink for those whose work strains the eyes.”

USE IN FORMULAS:

The combination of Ju Hua and Gou Qi Zi is a dui yao pair, and we’ll see it come up in a few formulas.

The main one is Qi Ju Di Huang Wan (lycium fruit, chrysanthemum, and rehmannia pill). This is just Liu Wei Di Huang Wan to tonify yin, plus Gou Qi Zi and Ju Hua to benefit the eyes.

You may also see this pair come up in modern formulations of Ming Mu Di Huang Wan. This is usually just Liu Wei Di Huang Wan with even more eye-brightening herbs, like Shi Jue Ming, Bai Ji Li, or Ze Xie.

Or a lesser-known one is Shi Hu Ye Guang Wan (dendrobium pill for night vision). This is a very large formula which treats Liver and Kidney yin deficiency leading to fire and internal wind (it has substances like antelope horn and buffalo horn in it to clear heat).

But it also has Ju Hua and Gou Qi Zi to brighten the eyes, along with other eye herbs like Tu Si Zi, Sha Yuan Zi, and Shi Hu.

OTHER COMBINATIONS WITH JU HUA:

You can use other herbs with Ju Hua as well, depending on the situation:

For red, swollen, dry, or painful eyes due to wind-heat or Liver yang rising, combine Ju Hua with Chan Tui and XIa Ku Cao.

(We already talked about Chan Tui brightening the eyes and preventing chicken pox from getting into the eyes. Xia Ku Cao is from the Drain Fire category, and it clears Liver fire to brighten the eyes.)

For wind-heat affecting the eyes, use Ju Hua and Sang Ye (like in the formula Sang Ju Yin).

If there’s sore throat or loss of voice, combine Ju Hua with Pang Da Hai (it will also help with constipation).

Shan Zha, Jue Ming Zi, and Ju Hua can be made into a tea for high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

Ju Hua can be combined with Jin Yin Hua for heat toxicity. Bensky notes, “The tea still tastes quite pleasant.”

JU HUA FOR LONGEVITY:

LIke we said before, Ju Hua is also sweet in flavor, so it may have a subtle tonifying effect. Daoists drank if frequently as a longevity tonic, but they emphasized that it must be taken over a long period of time in order to see the benefits.

The painter Zheng Ban-Qiao wrote in a poem:

Tasting chrysanthemum tea of old-this flower of Longevity!

A man of eighty years picks and sips, assiduous;
Teaching his frosty beard to turn raven-black.

And Chen Shi-Duo wrote: 

Sweet chrysanthemum flower is light and clear in flavor and nature, and its effect is particularly leisurely; it must be taken over a long time before it starts to take effect. One cannot simply take more to try for earlier results.

But if you get allergies in the spring, or if you have a job that strains the eyes, maybe you should make some chrysanthemum and goji berry tea!

See you in the next one!

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Source: Bensky, D. (2004). Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica. Seattle, WA: Eastland Press. pp. 58-59, 761