🌿 Folk Prescriptions

The lotus flower is often regarded as a representative of summer flora. During the hottest days of summer, when the sun blazes fiercely, people become parched and irritable. At such times, walking by a lotus pond brings scenery like a painting and instantly dispels the heat.
Look at the lotus leaves—thick, round, emerald green and dripping with vitality. In their embrace, lotus flowers stand gracefully. Pink lotuses are beautiful, white ones pure and delicate; those in bud appear shyly reserved, while fully blooming ones display elegant freedom. When a gentle breeze passes, droplets on the leaves tremble and roll about, resembling "pearls dancing on a plate," accompanied by a refreshing fragrance that invigorates the lungs and lifts the spirit.
If it’s nighttime, with clear moonlight and a calm breeze, the lotus pond is covered in green leaves. While other lotuses close and rest, the "night-blooming lotus" quietly opens, filling the air with fragrance. Combined with frogs croaking along the banks, it feels like entering a fairyland, making one reluctant to leave.
The beauty of the lotus has long been cherished by people and admired by poets and writers throughout history. From ancient times to today, countless poems and essays have been written in its praise. The earliest collection of Chinese poetry, the *Book of Songs*, already contains the line: “In the marshy bank, there are reeds and lotus blossoms.” Later, figures such as Qu Yuan, Cao Zhi, Wang Bo, Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Li Shangyin, Meng Jiao, and Su Shi all composed verses celebrating the lotus. Among them, Zhou Dunyi’s *On the Love of the Lotus* stands out most famously, praising the lotus for “rising from mud without being stained, washed in clear ripples without appearing vulgar,” capturing its unique character and dignity. The lotus poem by Southern Song poet Yang Wanli remains a timeless masterpiece still recited today: “After all, the West Lake in June is unlike any other season; the lotus leaves stretch endlessly to the sky, and the lotus flowers glow red under the sun.”
The lotus serves not only ornamental purposes but also culinary uses. Its rhizome (lotus root) and seeds (lotus seeds) are delicious foods rich in nutritional value. Lotus root powder processed from the root is a nourishing food for the elderly, infants, and those recovering from illness—rich in nutrients, easy to digest, and beneficial for blood replenishment, appetite stimulation, and harmonizing digestion. Even lotus leaves can be used as food; lotus leaf porridge made with rice and lotus leaves is green, fragrant, refreshing, and uniquely flavorful.
Beyond this, the lotus holds precious medicinal value—every part of it can be used medicinally.
Collect the unopened buds or open flowers during June and July, dry them in shade, and they become the herbal medicine known as lotus flower. It is bitter, sweet, warm, non-toxic, enters the heart and liver meridians, and functions to activate blood circulation, stop bleeding, remove dampness, and relieve wind-related conditions. It treats injuries with hemoptysis, skin sores caused by heat-dampness, etc.
If lotus leaves are collected, washed thoroughly, the stalks and edges trimmed off, sliced and dried in the sun, they become the herbal medicine known as lotus leaf. It clears summer-heat, promotes diuresis, raises clear yang energy, and is used to treat chronic cervical inflammation, excessive vaginal discharge, and nocturnal enuresis.
The lotus leaf stem (pedicel) clears summer-heat, removes dampness, harmonizes blood, and stabilizes pregnancy. It treats bloody dysentery, diarrhea, and fetal restlessness during pregnancy.
The lotus stem (rhizome) clears heat, relieves summer-heat, promotes qi movement, and facilitates urination. It treats chest tightness due to summer-dampness, diarrhea, dysentery, and urinary tract infections.
Lotus root is sweet and cold in nature, entering the heart, spleen, and stomach meridians. According to *Commentary on the Classic of Materia Medica*: “Raw lotus root is sweet and cold, capable of cooling blood, stopping bleeding, clearing heat, and purging stomach fire, thus treating blood stasis and stagnation… Cooked lotus root is sweet and warm, able to strengthen the spleen, stimulate appetite, nourish blood, and enrich the heart, thus benefiting the five zang organs…”
The lotus root segment treats blood disorders, stops bleeding, and disperses stasis. Commonly used for coughing up blood, vomiting blood, hematochezia, hematuria, bloody stools, bloody dysentery, menorrhagia, and uterine bleeding.
The lotus pod shell, known as lotus receptacle in traditional medicine, is bitter, astringent, warm. After roasting and grinding into powder, it can be applied externally to treat cracked nipples. If burned to charcoal and ground into fine powder, mixed with sesame oil, and applied to affected areas, it treats yellow-water sores.
The lotus stamen (male reproductive organ of the flower), known as lotus filament, clears heart-fire and nourishes the kidneys. It helps solidify essence, darken hair, and improve complexion.
Lots of lotus seeds are not only edible but also medicinal. Li Shizhen wrote in *Compendium of Materia Medica*: “Lotus seeds are sweet in taste, warm in nature, with a fresh fragrance and the flavor of grains—thus they belong to the spleen.” They nourish the heart, benefit the kidneys, strengthen the spleen, and tighten the intestines. Used to treat insomnia with frequent dreams, spermatorrhea, turbid urine, chronic diarrhea, and weakness-related diarrhea. Lotus seeds with dark gray shells after frost exposure are called stone lotus seeds, which stop nausea and stimulate appetite, commonly used for “silent dysentery” (inappetence due to severe diarrhea).
The embryo of the lotus seed, known as lotus seed heart in traditional medicine, is bitter and cold. It clears heart-fire, reduces fever, stops bleeding, and solidifies essence. Modern medical research shows it has significant blood pressure-lowering effects. The mechanism involves releasing histamine to dilate peripheral blood vessels, with additional influence from nervous factors.
Indeed, every part of the lotus is valuable!
Prescriptions:
1. For weak stomach after illness, poor digestion: Roast lotus seeds and rice each 120 grams, 60 grams of poria. Grind into powder, mix with rock sugar. Take 30 grams each time, wash down with warm water.
2. For heat rash and damp sores: Apply lotus flower directly.
3. For yellow-water sores: Burn lotus receptacle to charcoal, grind into fine powder, mix with sesame oil, apply to affected area twice daily.
4. For lacquer dermatitis: Use one jin (approx. 500g) of dried lotus leaf, boil in ten liters of water until reduced to five liters. When temperature is suitable, bathe with the liquid. After washing, sprinkle with powdered dryopteris, applying oil if dry.
5. For nosebleed: Crush fresh lotus root segments to extract juice, drink, and drop into nostrils.
6. For hot urinary tract infection: Mix equal parts raw lotus root juice, fresh rehmannia juice, and grape juice. Take half a cup each time, warm with honey.
<Summer Lotus>