Herb

Firefly (Ying huo)

萤火ying huo
1 sourceLuciola

Recorded in Bencao Gangmu for brightening the eyes and for blue-blindness, childhood fire-sores and heat damage, heat-qi, gu-toxin and malign influences.

Source

Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu)卷四十一·虫部·化生类·萤火·主治

References
  • functions_en self-translated from 本草纲目 traditional_functions (public domain; the Chinese tf carries verbatim excerpt_hash citations). No modern work consulted.
  • WHO IST-TCM terminology-aligned for the English rendering.
  • public pharmacopoeia & zoological facts (public-domain reference facts; no proprietary modern source).
Traditional functions

Classical source text (Chinese) — English summary above.

传统中医记载：明目；疗青盲；小儿火疮伤，热气蛊毒鬼疰，通神精。

Nature, flavor & meridians

Nature & flavor: 辛，微温，无毒。

Citations
  • Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) · Li Shizhen · 卷四十一·虫部·化生类·萤火·条名Cited from Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) for its classification.
  • Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) · Li Shizhen · 卷四十一·虫部·化生类·萤火·气味Cited from Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) for its nature & flavor.
  • Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) · Li Shizhen · 卷四十一·虫部·化生类·萤火·主治Cited from Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) for its traditional functions.