Zi Hua Di Ding
English Name: viola
Pharmaceutical Name: Herba Violae
Medica Category: Heat-Clearing and Toxin-Eliminating Herbs
Properties: Zi Hua Di Ding is bitter and acrid in nature and cold in temperature.
What is Zi Hua Di Ding?:
The Chinese Herb Zi Hua Di Ding is the entire dried plant Viola (Viola yedoensis Makino.). In China it grows naturally in the Southern Yangtze River valley and on Southward. The entire plant is harvested while in flower and dried for use as medicine.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of Zi Hua Di Ding:
Zi Hua Di Ding has antibiotic properties and is used to clear fire-toxins (i.e. bacterial infections) both internally and externally depending on the herbs with which it is combined in formula. For example, it is one of the five herbs comprising the formula Wu Wei Xiao Du Yin, a formula used to clear external fire-toxins to treat all kinds of red, angry, and/or infected sores/lesions etc…; on the other hand, it is also used in, for example, Ban Len Gen Wan and Chuan Xin Lian Wan to help resolve heat and toxicity deep in the body (high fever with irritability).
Fresh juice of Zi Hua Di Ding applied topically reduces inflammation and swelling in snakebites.