Campsis Flower

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Invigorates blood and dispels stasis - Ling Xiao Hua is classically used for amenorrhea, painful menstruation, postpartum stagnant pain, and fixed blood-stasis discomfort.
• Cools blood and reduces hot eruptions - traditional use extends to red itchy skin lesions, wind-heat eruptions, and blood-heat swelling.
• Reduces swelling from trauma or toxic heat - folk practice applies it to bruising and inflammatory lesions when blood stasis and heat overlap.

Secondary Actions

• Ling Xiao Hua is more moving than nourishing, so it is typically chosen when there is obvious stasis, heat, or obstructed flow rather than empty deficiency.
• Its menstrual applications often overlap with Tao Ren, Hong Hua, Chi Shao, and Dan Pi, especially when heat and stasis are both present.

Classic Formulas

• Ling Xiao Hua with Tao Ren and Hong Hua - standard blood-moving pairing logic for amenorrhea, clotted painful periods, and postpartum stasis.
• Ling Xiao Hua with Dan Pi and Chi Shao - cooling-blood combination for hot blood-stasis patterns with rash, irritability, or red lesions.
• Ling Xiao Hua with Niu Xi - lower-jiao directing strategy when menstrual stasis or traumatic swelling needs stronger downward movement.

Classical References

• Traditional sources place Ling Xiao Hua among blood-regulating flowers that move stasis while also cooling heat from the blood level.
• Teaching texts consistently emphasize gynecologic blood stasis and red swollen skin conditions as the herb's main territory.
• It is not a gentle tonic herb and is usually prescribed when there is a clear excess pattern to move or cool.