Honeysuckle/Jīn Yín Huā 金銀花

A 2024 systematic review compared honeysuckle flower (Lonicera japonica) with its close relative Lonicerae flos. It catalogued 337 constituents in honeysuckle, including volatile oils, flavonoids, iridoids and phenolic acids, and noted that laboratory and animal research has examined anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antioxidant and liver-protective activity, consistent with its traditional use for wind-heat and toxicity.

In a randomized controlled trial, 103 adults with chronic pharyngitis took botanical lozenges containing honeysuckle and other plant extracts, or placebo, for 15 days. Research suggests the lozenge group reported lower throat-symptom scores, with improvement in throat itching, dryness and foreign-body sensation. Because the lozenges were a multi-herb blend, the effect cannot be attributed to honeysuckle alone.

A 2025 systematic review gathered preclinical studies on honeysuckle in acute lung injury models. The authors proposed three main mechanisms: dampening the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB inflammatory pathway, activating Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidant defenses, and direct antiviral activity against influenza. The evidence comes mostly from cell and animal studies, so human relevance remains to be established.

In a rat model of endotoxin-induced liver inflammation, a water extract of honeysuckle flower appeared to reduce activation of NF-κB, a central inflammatory switch, by preventing breakdown of its inhibitor IκBα, and partly lowered TNF-α and iNOS in liver cells. This early animal study offers a mechanistic rationale for the herb's traditional 'heat-clearing' use.