What is Pi Pa Ye? Are honey-fried leaf, loquat fruit and loquat seed the same?
Official Pi Pa Ye (枇杷叶) is the dried leaf of Eriobotrya japonica. The pharmacopoeial name is Eriobotryae Folium. Slices must be brushed free of down and cut into shreds. Honey-fried Pi Pa Ye is stir-fried with refined honey until not sticky—better to moisten the Lung and stop cough. Loquat fruit moistens the Lung, generates fluid and harmonizes the Stomach—it is not the leaf. Loquat seed is bitter-cold, soothes the Liver and moves Qi, contains amygdalin, and must not stand in for the leaf. Do not swap in un-dehaired fallen leaves or another tree’s foliage. Write Pi Pa Ye or Mi Pi Pa Ye; wrap it in the decoction.
What are the TCM properties and traditional uses of Pi Pa Ye?
According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Pi Pa Ye is bitter and slightly cold, enters the Lung and Stomach channels, and acts to clear the Lung and stop cough, and downbear counterflow to stop vomit. It is used for Lung-heat cough, rebellious Qi with urgent wheezing, Stomach-heat vomiting and counterflow, and vexing heat with thirst. Bitter-downbearing and slightly cold—suited to Lung-Stomach heat with Qi rising, not to wind-cold cough or Stomach-cold vomiting.
How do you choose raw versus honey-fried Pi Pa Ye? Why remove the hairs and wrap the decoction?
Clear the Lung, stop cough and dryness-heat rebellious cough with honey-fried Pi Pa Ye; clear the Stomach, downbear counterflow and retching with the raw leaf—some also fry it with ginger juice. Down on the leaf back irritates the throat and can worsen cough; brush it clean or decoct wrapped in cloth. First- or late-decoction is not required.
What is the usual dosage? Can it be drunk daily as a cough tea?
The pharmacopoeial decoction dose is 6–10 g; fresh leaf may be increased. It is not a four-season “Lung-moistening tea.” Wind-cold clear snivel and Stomach cold that prefers warmth only cough and vomit more when cleared. Lung-heat cough and Stomach-heat vomit need a practitioner to name raw or honey-fried and wrapping; patent Pi Pa Ye Gao also needs the matching pattern.
What are the contraindications? Can it be used in pregnancy?
Avoid in wind-cold cough and Stomach-cold vomiting. Slightly cold downbearing only chills a cold pattern further. Classical use allows raw leaf to downbear Stomach-heat morning sickness, but Spleen-Stomach deficient cold needs caution. Stop if a cold epigastrium, loose stool or thin clear phlegm appears. Decocting un-dehaired leaf can irritate the throat.
Can Pi Pa Ye stop cough, calm wheezing and stop vomit?
It can help Lung-Stomach heat counterflow. Lung-heat phlegm cough joins mulberry root bark and Scutellaria; dryness-heat injuring fluid joins Glehnia and Ophiopogon. The patent is Pi Pa Ye Gao. Stomach-heat rebellious vomit may stand alone or join bamboo shavings and tangerine peel. It clears and downbears Lung-Stomach heat Qi rising—not a specific for every cough, every asthma or every pregnancy vomiting. High fever with urgent wheeze and hemoptysis are emergencies.
Can Pi Pa Ye be taken daily as a Lung-moistening, beauty or cough-syrup drink?
Shop loquat paste and Fritillaria-loquat syrup contain sugar and several herbs—they are not the single pharmacopoeial leaf. Lung-heat dry cough may be short-course; wind-cold and Spleen deficiency only grow colder and cloying. “Loquat leaf beautifies and stops cough” does not replace respiratory evaluation. Clearing the Lung and downbearing counterflow should name honey-fried or raw, dehaired wrapping and a dose.
How do you choose among Pi Pa Ye, Sang Bai Pi, Zi Wan, Kuan Dong Hua and Zhu Ru?
Loquat leaf is bitter and slightly cold: clears the Lung, stops cough and downbears counterflow to stop vomit—clears Lung and Stomach together. Mulberry root bark is sweet-cold: drains the Lung, calms wheezing and promotes urination to disperse swelling—leaning to Lung-heat phlegm wheeze with water. Aster is bitter-acrid-warm: moistens the Lung, downbears Qi, transforms phlegm and stops cough—usable in cold or heat cough, warm-moistening. Coltsfoot is acrid-warm: moistens the Lung, downbears Qi, stops cough and transforms phlegm—strong to stop cough. Bamboo shavings are sweet and slightly cold: clear heat, transform phlegm, eliminate vexation and stop vomit—especially Stomach-heat rebellious vomit. Lung-heat cough favors Pi Pa Ye and Sang Bai Pi; lingering sticky phlegm cough favors Zi Wan and Kuan Dong Hua; Stomach-heat vomit favors Pi Pa Ye and Zhu Ru. They may be paired; all are wrong as pure clearing-downbearing in wind-cold and Stomach cold.
Which herbs is Pi Pa Ye combined with? What are the representative formulas?
Lung-heat dry cough joins mulberry leaf, Ophiopogon and ass-hide glue, near Qing Zao Jiu Fei. Phlegm-heat cough and wheeze join Scutellaria, trichosanthes and apricot kernel. The patent representative is Pi Pa Ye Gao. Stomach-heat rebellious vomit joins bamboo shavings and tangerine peel. Write raw or honey-fried Pi Pa Ye, dehair and wrap.
How do you choose and store Pi Pa Ye?
Choose large intact leaves, gray-green or red-brown and relatively smooth above, with the down on the underside already brushed off, a faint odor and a slightly bitter taste. Broken moldy lots, un-dehaired leaves and another tree’s foliage are unused. Store dry; seal honey-fried lots against moisture. Buy pharmacopoeial Pi Pa Ye or Mi Pi Pa Ye; do not boil hairy fresh leaves straight into syrup.
