Hordeum, Barley

Della Materia Medicinale, Andrea Valuassori, 1562

Icones Plantarum Medcio-oeconomico, Vietz, 1800

Uses:
1. Clears Damp, Promotes Urine:
-acute burning or urgent urine; acute Urinary Tract Infections

2. Clears Heat:
-very good to clear Heat; Fever

3. Clears Heat and Phlegm, Stops Coughs:
-Cough, Bronchitis, Wheezing, difficulty breathing

4. Promotes Milk (Dioscorides)

5. Kills Worms:
-specifically Ascariasis

6. Externally:
i. Headaches and for ‘Rheums’ in the Eyes. (Water Distilled from Barley in May when it has Dew)
ii. hard swellings (Dioscorides)
iii. ‘poultice of Barley meal and butter is very Anodyne, and eases painful tumors’ (Pechy)
iv. the ancient Egyptians used it externally for burns, heat and inflammations and in a suppository to cool heat of the anus. (Egyptian Medicine)
v. Ayurveda uses powdered charred Barley as a topical application to wounds and burns (it is charred by pouring boiling Sesame Oil over it).
vi. 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. A poultice prepared with Barley, Quince and vinegar is applied to Arthritic joints also. (Avicenna)

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)


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