The Herb Cabinet 本草

连翘 lián qiào

Forsythia suspensa · forsythia fruit

Slightly cold Bitter LungHeartGallbladder

“The spring hedge you know from front yards keeps a bitter fruit the tradition calls the sore's holy medicine. Honeysuckle's inseparable other half.” — Lao Xinglin

What the tradition says

The same yellow-flowered shrub that announces Western springs fruits into a bitter little capsule the tradition ranks high among heat-and-toxin clearers. The old texts crown it "holy medicine of sores" (疮家圣药): boils, abscesses, hot swollen nodes and lumps, which it both cools and disperses^[1]. Lighter duty pairs it forever with jin yin hua at the top of Yin Qiao San for the feverish, sore-throated start of a heat-type cold — the gold-silver flower cools, the forsythia fruit scatters, and the formula carries both their names.

What the research says

Forsythiaside and related phenylethanoids drive an in-vitro and animal literature of antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory findings; human evidence lives inside the formula trials, with the same honest verdict recorded on the Yin Qiao San page. Its lone solo fame: a component of the oseltamivir-era compound remedies studied in China during flu seasons — suggestive, never settled.

Where to be careful

The bitter-cold fences: not for cold-pattern illness, weak digestion with loose stools, or already-open running sores the tradition judged past dispersing^[1]. Otherwise short-course and well tolerated.

In the pharmacy

Beaked, ridged little fruits split into halves like tiny boats — the greener qing qiao and riper lao qiao are graded separately, the green judged stronger at clearing^[1].

Reviewed 2026-08-26