Main Regions and Quality Identification

Traditional materia medica and industry experience value the He Ye of certain producing areas, but actual quality also depends on variety, harvest time, processing, and storage. The main producing areas are spread over several provinces of southern China; the leaves of different areas differ slightly in appearance — the leaves of one area are larger and slightly thicker, while those of another are a deeper green with a stronger odor. Good-quality He Ye has complete, deep-green leaves, no breakage, no moldy smell, and a faint fresh fragrance. The raw He Ye is complete or broken dried leaves, crisp and easy to break. The look-alikes may be the leaves of other aquatic plants — such as the Euryale leaf (thorny) and the Nuphar leaf (smaller) — with different shapes and odors — identify them carefully.

1. First Direction: Clearing Summer Heat and Dampness

• Traditional action: clear the summer heat and drain the dampness — mainly for the patterns of summer dampness trapping the middle jiao.
• Typical signs: a heavy body, chest oppression, no appetite, sticky stool, a sticky mouth, and a thick greasy tongue coating in summer.
• Usual combinations: often paired with the summer-heat-clearing, dampness-transforming herbs — such as Pei Lan and Huo Xiang — to strengthen the summer-heat and dampness-clearing action; can also be paired with Bian Dou and Fu Ling, attending to strengthening the spleen and removing dampness.
• Who should not self-use: those with spleen-stomach deficiency-cold, frequent abdominal pain and diarrhea, and cold hands and feet should not self-use, to avoid worsening the internal cold and discomfort.

2. Second Direction: Raising the Clear Yang

• Traditional action: raise the clear yang — mainly for the patterns of clear yang not rising.
• Typical signs: dizziness, fatigue, low spirits, post-meal bloating, loose stool, and anal sagging.
• Usual combinations: often paired with the yang-raising, fallen-lifting herbs — such as Sheng Ma and Chai Hu — to strengthen the clear-yang-raising action; can also be paired with Huang Qi and Dang Shen, attending to strengthening the spleen and benefiting qi.
• Who should not self-use: those with yin-deficiency fire — frequent dry mouth and tongue, tidal heat and night sweats, and a red tongue with little coating — should not self-use, to avoid worsening the internal deficiency fire.

3. Classic Pairing: He Ye With Sheng Ma

The common pair is He Ye with Sheng Ma: He Ye can clear summer heat, drain dampness, and raise the clear yang; Sheng Ma can raise the yang, lift the fallen, clear heat, and resolve toxin. Combined, He Ye's light, clear nature guides Sheng Ma to act on the middle-jiao spleen and stomach, while Sheng Ma's yang-raising nature strengthens He Ye's clear-yang-raising effect — mutually coordinating, fitting the patterns of clear qi not rising with mild summer dampness — such as summer dizziness and fatigue with sticky stool. To emphasize: this pairing needs the physician's pattern diagnosis — do not pair casually on your own, because different constitutions and patterns require adjusting the paired herbs.

1. What They Share

Choosing the similarly acting herb Sheng Ma, the two share several points:

• Both have the action of raising the clear yang, helping raise the body's clear yang qi.
• Both can be used for the patterns of clear qi not rising — dizziness and fatigue.
• Both may appear in the summer or spleen-stomach-regulating formulas or food-therapy scenes — though Sheng Ma is used more medicinally, while He Ye appears more in food therapy.
• Both need the constitution and dose considered — overuse of either may bring body discomfort.

2. The Key Differences: He Ye vs. Sheng Ma

• Nature and flavors: He Ye is neutral with bitter and astringent flavors, entering the liver, spleen, and stomach channels — leaning overall to light, clear, freeing — both clearing summer heat and raising yang, relatively gentle; Sheng Ma is slightly cold with acrid and slightly sweet flavors, entering the lung, spleen, stomach, and large-intestine channels — leaning to raising-dispersing, with a certain cold nature — able to clear heat and resolve toxin.
• Focus: He Ye's core strength is clearing summer heat and dampness and raising the clear yang — mainly for the problems of summer dampness and clear qi not rising — gentle — fitting daily summer regulation; Sheng Ma's core strength is raising the yang and lifting the fallen, and clearing heat to resolve toxin — mainly for the problems of middle qi fallen and heat toxin — with a stronger raising-dispersing action — mostly medicinal treatment.
• Qi tendency: He Ye belongs to the raising-floating products — mainly acting on the spleen and stomach — raising the clear yang of the spleen and stomach while freeing the internal dampness — avoiding dampness blocking the qi; Sheng Ma also belongs to the raising-floating products — mainly acting on the spleen, stomach, and large-intestine channels — lifting the fallen middle qi while clearing the internal heat toxin — leaning more to lifting the fallen upright qi.
• Best fit: He Ye fits the summer dampness trapping the spleen — chest oppression, no appetite, and a heavy body — and the clear qi not rising — dizziness and post-meal bloating; Sheng Ma fits the middle qi fallen — anal sagging, rectal prolapse, and uterine prolapse — and heat toxin — mouth and tongue sores and sore throat.
• Not suitable: He Ye — not for those with spleen-stomach deficiency-cold and frequent abdominal pain and diarrhea, nor for those with yin-deficiency fire; Sheng Ma — not for those with yin-deficiency fire or liver-yang rising (frequent dizziness, headache, and higher blood pressure), nor for those with measles already erupted — to avoid over-raising and dispersing harming the upright qi.
• Use scenes: He Ye often appears in summer food therapy — such as He Ye tea and He Ye porridge — and in summer-heat and dampness-clearing prescriptions; Sheng Ma appears more in the Chinese-medicine prescriptions treating middle qi fallen or heat toxin — rarely in daily food therapy.

3. One-Sentence Summary

Simply put, He Ye leans toward clearing summer heat and dampness with gentle yang-raising — fitting the daily summer regulation of light-to-moderate discomfort, whereas Sheng Ma leans toward raising the middle qi and clearing heat to resolve toxin — fitting the medicinal treatment of middle qi fallen or heavier heat toxin. Both can be used to regulate the qi, but they are not interchangeable.

1. Home Tea and Porridge

(1) He Ye Qing Shu Cha (Lotus-Leaf Summer-Clearing Tea): dry He Ye 3 g, Dan Zhu Ye 2 g, Bai Mao Gen 2 g. Steep the three materials in boiling water, cover 10 minutes, and drink. Suited to the milder summer dampness — mild chest oppression, no appetite, and a sticky mouth. Not for those with spleen-stomach deficiency-cold and frequent abdominal pain and diarrhea. Suggested: 2–3 times a week; not for long-term continuous drinking. Note: the He Ye here is a medicinal slice, not an ordinary food — do not drink it long-term in large amounts as ordinary tea.

(2) He Ye Zhou (Lotus-Leaf Porridge): dry He Ye 5 g, Da Mi 50 g. First cook the Da Mi until half done, add the dry He Ye and cook together until the porridge is done. Suited to the summer poor appetite and heavy body. Not for pregnant women or those with spleen-stomach deficiency-cold. Suggested: about once every 10 days; not too frequent.

2. Decoction and Processing Differences

The difference between the raw and stir-fried He Ye: the raw leans to clearing summer heat and draining dampness — more fitting summer heat-clearing; the stir-fried leans to raising the clear yang — fitting the dizziness and fatigue of clear qi not rising. For home decoction, He Ye needs no special handling — put the slices directly into the pot and decoct with the other food or herbs; no pre-boiling, late addition, or bag-boiling. Different forms cannot be converted directly — the He Ye slice dose in a prescription is determined by the treatment need and differs from the amount in tea or porridge — do not convert by ratio.

3. Dosage and Course

The common dose of He Ye in traditional prescriptions is 3–10 g — slightly smaller for clearing summer heat and dampness, slightly larger for raising the clear yang; the food-therapy amount is generally about 2–5 g — much smaller than the medicinal dose. Long-term continuous use is not advised — generally adjust the use frequency to the body state after each drink or meal, with continuous use not exceeding 1 week. Special groups — such as pregnant women, children, and the elderly — should consult a physician or pharmacist before use, to avoid discomfort from improper use.