Clear heat and relieve toxicity (qing re, re du)

Herbs that clear heat and relieve toxicity tend to be bitter, acrid and dispersing, enabling them to disperse the accumulation of potent heat pathogens to become toxic heat. This describes various purulent swellings, erosive ulcers, abscesses and similar suppurative infections, which may be internal or external, including dysentery with blood and pus, lung abscesses, mumps, swollen throats, sores and boils, often accompanied by fever, lethargy and pain.

Examples include jin yin hua (Japanese honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica) and lian qiao (forsythia fruit, Forsythia suspensa). Since they are very dispersing, they should not be used alone in deficient patients, to prevent the dispersal of the patient’s own qi.