Hordeum, Barley
Jau, Jao (Unani)Tsampa (Tibetan Highland Barley)
Dai Mai 大麦 (TCM)
Della Materia Medicinale, Andrea Valuassori, 1562
Icones Plantarum Medcio-oeconomico, Vietz, 1800
Members CLICK HERE for the PRO VERSIONBotanical name:
Hordeum vulgare
Parts used:
Seed (grain)
Temperature & Taste:
Cool, dry. Sweet
cleanses, opens, digests, mollifies
Classifications:
2E LENITIVE. 2G. CLEANSING. 2K. RESOLVENT. 2L. EMOLLIENT. 2Q. ANODYNE. 2U. SUPPURATIVE. 2V. EXPEL PUS. 2W. SARCOTIC
3E. DIURETIC. 3H. LACTAGOGUE. 3K. EXPECTORANT. 3L. ANTI-TUSSIVE. 3M. ARTHRITIC.
4d. PECTORAL. 4e. STOMACHIC. 4f. SPLENETIC. 4g. HEPATIC. 4h. NEPHRITIC. 4j. NERVINE. 4k. ARTHRITIC
Uses:
1. Clears Damp, Promotes Urine:
-acute burning or urgent urine; acute Urinary Tract Infections
-acute inflammations of the Bladder or Kidney; Cystitis, Nephritis
-Strangury, Dysuria, Edema, Cystitis, and acute Gonorrhea
2. Clears Heat:
-good to clear Heat; Fever (Barley Water)
-skin conditions
-“Barley water elicits a cooling and moistening action in Fevers” (Avicenna)
3. Clears Heat and Phlegm, Stops Coughs:
-Cough, Bronchitis, Wheezing, difficulty breathing
-convalescence after Lung disease
-in Tibetan Medicine, roasted Barley is used for Lung conditions
4. Promotes Milk (Dioscorides)
5. Kills Worms:
-specifically Ascariasis
6. Externally:
-Headaches and for ‘Rheums’ in the Eyes. (Water Distilled from Barley in May when it has Dew)
-“Barley with or without husks is also applied on Hot swellings”. (Avicenna)
-Hard Swellings (Dioscorides, Avicenna)
-“poultice of Barley meal and butter is very Anodyne, and eases painful Tumors” (Pechy)
-the ancient Egyptians used it externally for Burns, Heat and inflammations and in a suppository to cool heat of the anus.
-Ayurveda uses powdered charred Barley as a topical application to wounds and burns (it is charred by pouring boiling Sesame Oil over it).
-boiled down with strong vinegar, it is placed on Gouty and Arthritic joints to stop the flow of humors to that part. It is anti-inflammatory and anodyne. (Avicenna)
Dose:
Barley: 30–100 grams may be decocted to be taken over the day (Barley water)
Note:
1. ‘The crude is an enemy to the Stomach, being Windy; but it is corrected by boiling’.
2. ‘Take Barley not husked, if you intend to cleanse and dry: But husk it, if you intend to digest, and quench Thirst. The Women know the way’. (Schroder)
Preparations:
… available in PRO version
Main Combinations:
1. Barley with … available in PRO version
2. Strangury, Dysuria, Burning Urine:
i. Barley with … available in PRO version
ii. Barley with … available in PRO version
iii. Barley with … available in PRO version
3. Edema, Barley with … available in PRO version
4. Fever, Barley with … available in PRO version
5. To clear Heat and Bile, Barley with … available in PRO version
6. To cleanse the Blood in Acne, Boils, and Heat-toxin skin conditions, Barley with … available in PRO version
7. As a Cordial (to clear Heart Heat) Barley with … available in PRO version
8. As a Pectoral, Barley with … available in PRO version
9. Heat-type Cough, Bronchitis:
i. Barley with … available in PRO version
ii. Barley with … available in PRO version
10. Heat-type Asthma, Barley with … available in PRO version
11. To promote Breast Milk, Barley with … available in PRO version
12. Threatened Miscarriage, Barley with … available in PRO version
13. Arthritis, Barley with … available in PRO version
14. To fatten in Convalescence or chronic Illness, Barley with … available in PRO version
15. Hard swelling, Barley … available in PRO version
Major Formulas
Barley Water
Decoction to Cool
Pectoral Decoction (Augustana)
Decoction Against Strangury and Burning Urine
Decoction for Arthritis (Mynsichts)
Anti-Asthmatic Syrup (D’Aquin)
Syrup of Hyssop Compound (Mesue)
Powder to Fatten (Mesue)
Cautions:
1. Cold and windy; it is somewhat corrected after stir-frying.
2. Drying, so not suitable in Yin deficiency. It was said to be bad for Melancholic people for the same reason.
Main Preparations used:
Barley Water, Water Distilled from Barley in May when it has dew