Field notes and materia medica
Leaves and flowers
Field notes on the leaves, flowers and stigmas used in Chinese medicine: the short picking windows, the drying, and why handling decides the grade.
5 field notes
Chinese herbs
Mugwort leaf (艾叶): field growth, harvest, and patient ageing
How Ai Ye grows in managed fields, is gathered for its aromatic leaves, dried, and aged before use.
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Chinese herbs
Ginkgo seed and leaf (白果 / 银杏叶): one ancient tree, two safety profiles
How ginkgo seeds and leaves are gathered and processed separately, with particular caution around raw seeds and concentrated extracts.
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Chinese herbs
Mulberry leaf (桑叶): frost, harvest, and drying
How mulberry leaves are seasonally harvested and dried for the Chinese medicinal material Sang Ye.
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Chinese herbs
Safflower (红花): a dawn harvest in Xinjiang
How safflower is grown and hand-picked during its narrow flowering window for the medicinal material Hong Hua.
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Chinese herbs
Saffron (藏红花): flowers, stigmas, and careful drying
How saffron crocuses are cultivated near Shanghai and hand-processed into the medicinal spice Zang Hong Hua.
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