Da Qing Ye – Isatis Leaf – Folium Isatidis

Da Qing Ye

English Name: isatis leaves

Pharmaceutical Name: Folium Isatidis

Medica Category: Heat-Clearing and Toxin-Eliminating Herbs

Properties: Da Qing Ye enters the Heart, Lung, and Stomach channels; it is bitter in nature and very cold in temperature.

What is Da Qing Ye?:

The Chinese Herb Da Qing Ye is the small, yellow leaves of the isatis plant that are collected in the summer and autumn and left in the sun to dry before being ready for use as medicine.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of Da Qing Ye:

Da Qing Ye clears heat and eliminates toxins but is not drying and therefore is an excellent choice to clear heat and toxins from someone with yin deficiency in their pattern of imbalance;  it clears heat-toxins externally (for use when wind-heat attacks manifest as sore throat and low-grade fever) and internally as well (for use in a wide variety of febrile conditions where the heat has sunken down deeper into the body to intensify the fever).

Da Qing Ye cools heat at the xue (blood) level when heat is forcing the blood out the vessels (to treat such clinical presentations as macula, pupura, hematemesis (vomiting up blood), and epistaxis (nosebleeds)).