Xian Bian Dou Hua鲜扁豆花
Lablab Flos · Fresh Hyacinth Bean Flower · Lablab Flower
Overview
- — summer damp, of Bai Bian Dou.*
The flower of the hyacinth bean, Lablab purpureus, whose seed is the familiar Bai Bian Dou. Sweet and neutral, entering Spleen, Stomach and Large Intestine. Where the bean is a quiet Spleen tonic that also resolves summer damp, the flower is lighter and more aromatic and does only the second half of that work: it lifts summer damp off the middle burner and settles the stomach, without any of the bean's tonifying weight.
The word in the name is part of the prescription, not a description. The Qing warm-disease physicians chose fresh, light, aromatic materials for summer illness on the principle that a slight pathogen calls for a slight remedy, and this flower appears twice in that literature: in Xin Jia Xiang Ru Yin 新加香薷饮 for summer-heat closed in by damp, and in Qing Luo Yin 清络饮 for the faint tail of a summer illness. Dried flower is used where fresh cannot be had, in a smaller amount.
Nature & Flavor
Sweet · NeutralChannels
Spleen · Stomach · Large IntestineTypical Dosage
10–15 g fresh, or 3–9 g dried, in decoction. Added late in the decoction so the aromatic quality that makes it useful is not boiled away.Actions
4 core actions
- Resolves summer heat, transforms dampThe heavy, muggy summer picture: a stuffy chest, a heavy head, no appetite, nausea, a greasy tongue coating and a body that feels wrapped in a wet cloth. Light and aromatic, it opens the middle rather than draining it.
- Harmonises the middle, checks diarrhoeaSummer diarrhoea and dysentery with fever, and the loose, urgent stools of damp-heat in the intestines. It is the gentler option where the patient is not strong enough for a heavy damp-clearing prescription.
- Stops vaginal dischargeWhite and red vaginal discharge attributed to damp in the classical record — the flower shares this indication with the bean.
- Why freshXin Jia Xiang Ru Yin 新加香薷饮 combines it with Xiang Ru, Hou Po, honeysuckle and forsythia for summer heat sealed in by damp; Qing Luo Yin 清络饮 uses it among six light ingredients for the residue of a mild summer illness. Both come from the Wen Bing Tiao Bian, and both specify the fresh flower because the volatile aromatics are what does the work.
In Formulas
Formulas containing Xian Bian Dou Hua
Indications & Clinical Uses
- Summer damp with a stuffy chest, heavy head, poor appetite and nausea
- Summer fever with diarrhoea or dysentery
- Damp-heat diarrhoea with urgency and a greasy tongue coating
- Vaginal discharge attributed to damp
- The lingering phase of a mild summer-heat illness
Western Medical Keywords
Searchable condition terms
Contraindications
Cautions
A mild herb, and one of the safest in this chapter, but a few points matter.
- Add it late. Its usefulness is in its aromatic volatiles, and a long boil drives them off. Put it in during the last few minutes.
- Fresh and dried are not the same dose. Fresh 10–15 g, dried 3–9 g. Weighing dried flower to a fresh-herb figure overdoses it, and the reverse underdoses it to nothing.
- Not for cold-damp without heat, and not a substitute for warming herbs when the summer complaint came from cold drinks and air conditioning rather than heat.
- Diarrhoea has limits. Diarrhoea with blood, high fever, severe abdominal pain, or signs of dehydration — especially in a child or an older person — needs medical assessment, not a mild aromatic herb. Rehydration comes first.
- Identify the plant. Lablab flowers are picked from a garden bean in many households. Make sure of what is being picked, and do not substitute the flowers of an unidentified legume, some of which are toxic.
Contraindicated in pregnancy: No specific prohibition. It is a mild aromatic food-adjacent herb, and it is generally considered acceptable in pregnancy for a summer-damp pattern with nausea and poor appetite. Keep the amount ordinary, use it briefly, and involve the treating practitioner — persistent vomiting or diarrhoea in pregnancy needs proper assessment.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only
References
- 白扁豆 enters the materia medica in the early 本草 literature and the flower is treated as a separate item later; sources differ on which text first records the flower, and none is asserted here.
2. Wen Bing Tiao Bian《温病条辨》— Xin Jia Xiang Ru Yin and Qing Luo Yin (classical source, public domain).
3. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
4. Provincial 中药材标准 carry 扁豆花; it is not a national pharmacopoeia monograph.
Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.