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)

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Cautions:
1. Cold and windy; it is somewhat corrected after stir-frying.
2. Drying, so not suitable in Yin deficiency. It was said to be bad for Melancholic people for the same reason.

Main Preparations used:
Barley Water, Water Distilled from Barley in May when it has dew