Herb

He Ye

Lotus leaf | 荷叶

Also known as:

Lotus Leaf

He Ye

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Properties

Herbs that clear Summer-Heat (清热解暑药) · Neutral

Traditionally supports*

Digestive Health Summer wellness Weight management Bleeding Disorders

Parts Used

Leaf (叶 yè)

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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About This Herb

Traditional Chinese Medicine background and properties

Herb Description

Lotus leaf is a gentle, versatile herb best known for clearing summer heat and supporting healthy digestion. It helps the body cope with hot, humid weather and is widely used in traditional teas and porridges during summer. It also has a mild blood-cooling action and is used for certain types of bleeding.

Herb Category

Herbs that clear Summer-Heat (清热解暑药)

Main Actions

  • Clears Summer-Heat and Resolves Dampness
  • Raises Clear Yang
  • Cools the Blood and Stops Bleeding

How These Actions Work

'Clears Summer-Heat and resolves Dampness' means He Ye can clear the hot, heavy, oppressive feeling that comes from exposure to summer heat and humidity. In TCM, Summer-Heat is a seasonal pathogen that causes symptoms like fever, intense thirst, irritability, and scanty dark urine. He Ye's bitter taste and aromatic quality help clear this heat and transform the dampness that often accompanies it. Fresh lotus leaf is particularly effective for this purpose and is commonly used in teas and porridges during hot weather.

'Raises the clear Yang of the Spleen' refers to He Ye's ability to lift the Spleen's ascending function. The Spleen is responsible for transforming food and fluids and sending the refined nutrients upward. When this ascending function fails, symptoms like diarrhea, a heavy sinking feeling, and even organ prolapse can occur. Classical physicians noted that the lotus leaf grows upward out of muddy water and faces the sky, symbolising a powerful lifting force. Li Dongyuan famously used He Ye in his Zhi Shu Wan formula specifically for this ascending property. This makes He Ye useful for summer diarrhea caused by both heat and Spleen weakness.

'Cools the Blood and stops bleeding' means He Ye can address bleeding conditions that arise from heat in the blood, such as nosebleeds, vomiting blood, blood in the stool, or heavy menstrual bleeding. For this purpose, the charred form (He Ye Tan) is more commonly used, as the charring process enhances its astringent, blood-stopping ability.

Patterns Addressed

In TCM, symptoms cluster into recognizable patterns of disharmony that reveal what's out of balance in the body. He Ye is traditionally associated with these specific patterns.

The following describes this herb's classification within Traditional Chinese Medicine theory and is provided for educational purposes only.

Why He Ye addresses this pattern

He Ye directly targets Summer-Heat and Dampness through its bitter taste and aromatic quality. Its bitter flavour clears heat and dries dampness, while its light, ascending nature lifts turbid dampness away from the Spleen and Stomach. It enters the Liver, Spleen, and Stomach channels, which are the primary organs affected when Summer-Heat and Dampness invade the middle burner. This makes He Ye especially well suited for the oppressive heat and digestive sluggishness typical of this pattern.

A practitioner would look for one or more of these signs

Fever

Low-grade fever from summer heat exposure

Excessive Thirst

Thirst with irritability

Diarrhea

Loose stools from summer dampness

Nausea

Nausea with poor appetite in hot weather

TCM Properties

Temperature

Neutral

Taste

Bitter (苦 kǔ)

Channels Entered
Liver Spleen Stomach
Parts Used

Leaf (叶 yè)

This is partial information on the herb's TCM properties. More detailed information is available on the herb's dedicated page

Product Details

Manufacturing, supplier, and product specifications

Product Type

Granules

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Botanical & Sourcing

Quality Indicators

Good quality dried He Ye is deep green to yellow-green on the upper surface, with the underside a pale greyish-brown showing clearly visible radiating veins (about 21–22 prominent veins fanning out from the centre). The leaf should be relatively intact, not overly fragmented, and the central stalk base should be visible. The texture is brittle and breaks easily. A slight, clean aromatic fragrance is a sign of freshness, and the taste should be mildly bitter. Avoid leaves that are excessively brown, mouldy, or have lost their fragrance, as these indicate degraded quality or improper storage.

Primary Growing Regions

He Ye is produced across most of China wherever lotus is cultivated in ponds and waterways. Major producing regions include Hunan, Hubei, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi provinces. He Ye is not strongly associated with a single dao di (道地) terroir region the way some herbs are, because lotus cultivation is widespread throughout southern and central China. However, material from the lake regions of Hunan, Hubei, and the Jiangnan area (south of the Yangtze) is traditionally considered of good quality due to abundant water resources and favourable growing conditions.

Harvesting Season

Summer and autumn (June through September), when the leaves are fully expanded but before the flowers have fully opened. Leaves are sun-dried to 70–80% dryness, then the stalks are removed and the leaves folded into half-circles or fan shapes for final drying.

Supplier Information

Treasure of the East

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Usage & Safety

How to use this herb and important safety information

Important Medical Disclaimer

The information provided here is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice or to replace consultation with a qualified healthcare professional. This herb is a dietary supplement and has not been evaluated by the FDA. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider, particularly if you are pregnant, nursing, have a medical condition, or are taking other medications. Discontinue use and consult your healthcare provider if you experience any adverse reactions.

Recommended Dosage

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Instructions for safe storage and consumption

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Traditional Dosage Reference

Standard

3–10g (dried leaf); 15–30g (fresh leaf); 3–6g (He Ye Tan / charred form)

Maximum

Up to 30g of fresh leaf in decoction for acute summer-heat conditions; dried leaf generally not exceeded beyond 15g. He Ye is a food-grade herb with a high safety margin.

Notes

Fresh lotus leaf (鲜荷叶, 15–30g) is preferred for clearing summer-heat and resolving damp-heat, as the fresh form has stronger aromatic summer-heat-clearing action. Dried lotus leaf (干荷叶, 3–10g) is used for raising clear Yang, treating Spleen-deficiency diarrhoea, and as an adjunct in tonifying formulas. Charred lotus leaf (荷叶炭, 3–6g) is the form specifically used for stopping bleeding, as the charring process enhances its astringent haemostatic properties while adding a blood-stasis-resolving action. When used as an adjunct (药引) in formulas to raise clear Yang and guide other herbs upward, a small piece of the leaf (about 3g) is typically sufficient.

Processing Methods

Processing method

The clean lotus leaf is charred using the sealed-pot calcination method (煅炭法). The leaf is placed in a pot, sealed with another pot on top, with white paper between them sealed with clay. It is heated until the paper turns golden-brown, then allowed to cool before removing.

How it changes properties

Charring enhances the astringent and hemostatic properties while reducing the herb's heat-clearing action. The charred form gains a stronger ability to stop bleeding through astringency and can also disperse blood stasis. The original ascending, Summer-Heat-clearing quality is diminished.

When to use this form

Use He Ye Tan specifically for bleeding conditions such as uterine bleeding (崩漏), blood in the stool, postpartum hemorrhage, and blood dizziness. When the primary goal is stopping bleeding rather than clearing summer heat, the charred form is preferred. Typical dose is 3-6g.

Toxicity Classification

Non-toxic

He Ye is classified as non-toxic in classical sources and the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. It has a long history of use as both food and medicine, and is officially listed as a food-medicine dual-use substance in China. The alkaloid nuciferine is the primary bioactive compound, and while pharmacological studies show it has a wide safety margin, excessive long-term use of concentrated lotus leaf extract may cause gastrointestinal discomfort in people with weak digestion. At standard decoction doses (3–10g), no significant toxicity concerns exist.

Contraindications

Caution

Spleen and Stomach deficiency-cold (脾胃虚寒) patterns: He Ye's bitter, cooling nature can worsen symptoms such as chronic loose stools, cold abdomen, and poor appetite in people with cold-type digestive weakness.

Caution

Qi and Blood deficiency: The classical Ben Cao Cong Xin (本草从新) warns that He Ye has ascending and dispersing properties that are consumptive, and should be avoided by those who are deficient (升散消耗，虚者禁之).

Caution

Pregnancy: High doses of lotus leaf extract may have stimulating effects. Pregnant women should use only under practitioner guidance and at conservative doses.

Caution

Menstruation with heavy flow from cold-deficiency: He Ye's blood-cooling and ascending-dispersing actions may be inappropriate when bleeding is due to cold-deficiency rather than blood-heat.

Classical Incompatibilities

He Ye does not appear on the Eighteen Incompatibilities (十八反) or Nineteen Mutual Fears (十九畏) lists. However, the Ben Cao Gang Mu notes that He Ye "fears" (畏) tung oil (桐油) and silver (白银). This is a traditional processing and storage caution rather than a clinical drug interaction.

Special Populations

Pregnancy

Use with caution during pregnancy. While He Ye is non-toxic and has a long history of food use, its ascending-dispersing nature and blood-moving properties warrant care. One classical formula (Zhao Tai San, 罩胎散) actually used dried lotus leaf to treat fever during pregnancy, suggesting low-dose use was considered acceptable historically. However, high-dose concentrated lotus leaf extracts should be avoided during pregnancy without practitioner supervision, as modern sources note potential stimulating effects at elevated doses.

Breastfeeding

No specific contraindication is documented for breastfeeding. He Ye is officially classified as a food-medicine dual-use substance in China and is widely consumed as a tea. At standard dietary and medicinal doses, it is generally considered compatible with breastfeeding. However, because of its cooling nature, nursing mothers with cold-type digestive weakness should use it cautiously, as excessive cooling herbs may theoretically affect digestion and milk production.

Pediatric Use

He Ye is considered gentle and safe for children at appropriately reduced doses (typically one-third to one-half of the adult dose, depending on age). It is commonly used in paediatric formulas for summer-heat diarrhoea and as a food ingredient (lotus leaf congee or rice wraps). For children under 3 years, use should be guided by a qualified practitioner.

Drug Interactions

No well-documented serious drug interactions have been established for He Ye at standard medicinal doses. However, the following theoretical considerations apply based on known pharmacological properties of its active compounds:

  • Antihypertensive medications: Nuciferine has demonstrated vasodilatory and blood-pressure-lowering effects in animal studies. Concurrent use with antihypertensive drugs could theoretically produce additive blood-pressure-lowering effects. Blood pressure should be monitored.
  • Lipid-lowering drugs (statins, fibrates): Lotus leaf alkaloids and flavonoids have shown lipid-lowering activity in both animal and human studies. While synergistic benefit is possible, additive effects should be monitored.
  • Antidiabetic medications: Lotus leaf flavonoids can inhibit alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase. Patients on blood-sugar-lowering medications should be aware of potential additive hypoglycaemic effects.

Dietary Advice

When taking He Ye for summer-heat or dampness, favour light, easily digestible foods such as congee, mung bean soup, and fresh vegetables. Avoid greasy, heavy, and excessively cold raw foods that may impair Spleen function. He Ye itself is commonly incorporated directly into food: lotus leaf congee (荷叶粥), lotus leaf rice (荷叶饭), and lotus leaf tea are traditional summer dietary preparations. Pairing with hawthorn (Shan Zha) in tea form is a popular folk remedy for supporting healthy lipid metabolism.

Cautions & Warnings

Although this formula is typically safe for most individuals, it may cause side effects in some people. Pregnant women, nursing mothers, postpartum women, and those with liver disease should use the formula with caution.

As with any Chinese herbal remedy, it is advisable to seek guidance from a qualified TCM practitioner before beginning treatment.