Hordeum, Barley

Jau, Jao (Unani)
Tsampa (Tibetan Highland Barley)
Dai Mai 大麦 (TCM)

Della Materia Medicinale, Andrea Valuassori, 1562

Icones Plantarum Medcio-oeconomico, Vietz, 1800

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Uses:

1. Clears Damp, Promotes Urine:
-acute burning or urgent urine; acute Urinary Tract Infections
-acute inflammations of the Bladder or Kidney; Cystitis, Nephritis
-Strangury, Dysuria, Edema, Cystitis, and acute Gonorrhea
2. Clears Heat:
-good to clear Heat; Fever (Barley Water)
-skin conditions
-“Barley water elicits a cooling and moistening action in Fevers” (Avicenna)
3. Clears Heat and Phlegm, Stops Coughs:
-Cough, Bronchitis, Wheezing, difficulty breathing
-convalescence after Lung disease
-in Tibetan Medicine, roasted Barley is used for Lung conditions
4. Promotes Milk (Dioscorides)
5. Kills Worms:
-specifically Ascariasis
6. Externally:
-Headaches and for ‘Rheums’ in the Eyes. (Water Distilled from Barley in May when it has Dew)
-“Barley with or without husks is also applied on Hot swellings”. (Avicenna)
-Hard Swellings (Dioscorides, Avicenna)
-“poultice of Barley meal and butter is very Anodyne, and eases painful Tumors” (Pechy)
-the ancient Egyptians used it externally for Burns, Heat and inflammations and in a suppository to cool heat of the anus.
-Ayurveda uses powdered charred Barley as a topical application to wounds and burns (it is charred by pouring boiling Sesame Oil over it).
-boiled down with strong vinegar, it is placed on Gouty and Arthritic joints to stop the flow of humors to that part. It is anti-inflammatory and anodyne. (Avicenna)

Dose:

Barley: 30–100 grams may be decocted to be taken over the day (Barley water)
Note:
1. ‘The crude is an enemy to the Stomach, being Windy; but it is corrected by boiling’.
2. ‘Take Barley not husked, if you intend to cleanse and dry: But husk it, if you intend to digest, and quench Thirst. The Women know the way’. (Schroder)
Preparations:
… available in PRO version

Main Combinations:

1. Barley with  … available in PRO version
2. Strangury, Dysuria, Burning Urine:
i. Barley with  … available in PRO version
ii. Barley with  … available in PRO version
iii. Barley with  … available in PRO version
3. Edema, Barley with  … available in PRO version
4. Fever, Barley with  … available in PRO version
5. To clear Heat and Bile, Barley with  … available in PRO version
6. To cleanse the Blood in Acne, Boils, and Heat-toxin skin conditions, Barley with  … available in PRO version
7. As a Cordial (to clear Heart Heat) Barley with  … available in PRO version
8. As a Pectoral, Barley with  … available in PRO version
9. Heat-type Cough, Bronchitis:
i. Barley with  … available in PRO version
ii. Barley with  … available in PRO version
10. Heat-type Asthma, Barley with  … available in PRO version
11. To promote Breast Milk, Barley with  … available in PRO version
12. Threatened Miscarriage, Barley with  … available in PRO version
13. Arthritis, Barley with  … available in PRO version
14. To fatten in Convalescence or chronic Illness, Barley with  … available in PRO version
15. Hard swelling, Barley  … available in PRO version

Major Formulas

Barley Water
Decoction to Cool
Pectoral Decoction (Augustana)
Decoction Against Strangury and Burning Urine
Decoction for Arthritis (Mynsichts)
Anti-Asthmatic Syrup (D’Aquin)
Syrup of Hyssop Compound (Mesue)
Powder to Fatten (Mesue)