The Medicinal Uses of Forsythia

As I was researching yesterday, I flipped past a page on the medicinal uses of forsythia.  I'd forgotten that this was a medicinal herb I wanted to learn about and was particularly interested because, like honeysuckle, it makes the top 50 list of herbs used in Chinese herbal medicine.  I think it is a shrub I'd like to incorporate in our new yard, and it's also a commonly used and readily identified plant so that most everyone should be able to locate some pretty quickly.  (And it was also apparently the herb that was the magic cure in the movie Contagion.)

Like its relative, the olive, forsythia flowers first and then produces a rather unobtrusive fruit.  It is this easily overlooked fruit that is used in making medicine.  Most say the flowers are edible and can be used in salads.   Some say that soap tastes better than the flowers.  You'll have to decide that one for yourself.

For an herb that's been used for over 3,000 years in Asia, there is precious little information on how it's actually used to treat illnesses.  Historically, it has been used to treat the following:

• Upper respiratory infections, including influenza and tonsillitis
• Measles and parotitis
• Meningitis and encephalitis
• Endometriosis

Forsythia demonstrates antibacterial activity against

• Escherichia coli
• Helicobacter pylori
• Salmonella
• Staphylococcus aureus[1]

Chinese researchers found that it worked better than conventional antibiotics administered to poultry to prevent disease and increase growth.[2]

Modern research has focused more on the antiviral properties of forsythia and how it inhibits the virus from penetrating the host cells and replicating.[3]  It has been successfully used in treating the following:

• Cytomegalovirus (CMV)[4]
• Enterovirus 71[5]
• Influenza
• SARS[6]

It's that last item on the list that intrigues me the most about using forsythia.  If it has been successfully used to treat SARS, would it be effective against COVID-19?  Based on what information the government and media present/distort about the use of hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and other non-Big Pharma-backed treatments for COVID, I wouldn't expect to hear anything about forsythia.  However, with its known antibacterial and antiviral efficacy, I want to make sure I have it in my yard, just in case.

To prepare and preserve forsythia for future use, harvest the unripe fruit in late summer/early fall.  Dehydrate and powder the fruit and seeds together.  Store the powder in a cool, dry, dark place.

To prepare a tincture, use a standard ratio of one part dried herb to five parts 160-proof alcohol (or about 4 parts 190-proof alcohol and 1 part water) in a canning jar.  Let macerate (soak) for one month in a dark cabinet, shaking daily. 

There is no information on dosages (other than for the chickens in the Chinese study cited previously, and that just doesn't really translate to how much to use in people for acute illnesses.)

Contraindications:  Not for use in pregnancy.[7]

Links to related posts:
Japanese Honeysuckle
Tinctures

References:
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4092897/
[2] Ibid.
[3] Stephen Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 44.
[4] Ibid, 105.
[5] Ibid, 108.
[6] Ibid, 56.
[7] https://www.drugs.com/npp/forsythia.html