TCM butterfly bush has been applied to eye diseases

What is butterfly bush(Mi Meng Hua)?
Because the main medicinal part of this herb is the flowers, medicinally it refers to the dried buds of Buddleja officinalis Maxim., which is a tree in the family Loganiaceae. Therefore, other names of this medicine include Buddleia Flower Bud, Flos Buddlejae, Buddleja, Flos Buddleiae Officinalis, Flos Immaturus Buddlejae Officinalis, Buddleia officinalis flower bud, etc. In China it is usually harvested in spring and mainly produced in Hubei, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan. And it is used dried and raw.

Butterfly bush tree (Buddleia officinalis) is a deciduous shrub, usually 1 to 3 meter in height. Branchlets are grayish brown, slightly 4-angled, and densely tomentose. Leaves are opposite, from narrowly elliptic to linear-lanceolate, 5 to 15cm long, about 3cm wide, with acuminate apex, cuneate base, entire or serrated margin. Panicle is acrogenous, 5 to 12cm long, and densely pubescent; bracts are lanceolate and tomentose; calyx is bell-shaped and with 4 cracked apex; corolla tubular is about 1.5cm and with 4-cracked apex; stamens are 4 and located in the center of the corolla tube; ovary is superior, with 2 rooms, tomentose apex, and short style. Capsule is 2-6mm long, 2-lobed, and with persistent calyx and petals on the base. Seeds are numerous , small, multi- flat. Bloom time is from February to March and fruit season is from July to August. Habitats are hillsides, hills, riverside, and bushes or grass besides villages.

Butterfly bush medicinal uses
Butterfly bush leaves, flowers, and roots can be used medicinally. In particular, its flower buds are commonly used for eye care. The importance of eye health is self-explanatory to human. Unfortunately, eye diseases can be complicated by many medical diseases, such as hypertension, Arteriosclerosis, and Diabetes. And many autoimmune diseases can cause eye problems too, for example, corneal ulcer and inflammation in Behcet’s disease, uveitis in ankylosing spondylitis, dry eyes and secondary infections in Sjogren’s syndrome and lupus, and vitreous opacities or even cataracts for long-term use of corticosteroids in patients. Hence, it is necessary to treat eye diseases while dealing with the primary diseases.

As mentioned above, buddleia is the herb that can make a difference on eye treatment. Clinically it is frequently used for the treatment of eye diseases like corneal opacity, dim eyesight, glaucoma, and nebula. Now pharmacology study found that the flavonoids (like acacetin) can repair the damaged cell membrane of lens, prevent the protein denaturation in lens, reduce lens opacity, and in the end restore vision. From the point of view of Traditional Chinese medicine, it moistens liver to improve eyesight. For instance, Cataract is a common eye disease among the elderly, which may lead to blindness if left untreated. And typically TCM fumigates eye with the butterfly bush tea to bring in relief.