Dong Qing Ye

Dong Qing Ye is the dried leaf of Ilex chinensis Sims (Aquifoliaceae), the Chinese holly, an evergreen tree 8–15 m tall native to broadleaf forests of central and southern China and cultivated as an ornamental. The bark is smooth and grey; young shoots are green and angled. Leaves are alternate, leathery, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 6–11 cm long and 2–4 cm wide, with shallowly crenate-serrate margins (not the rigid spines of I. aquifolium), a glossy dark-green upper surface, paler beneath, and a short petiole. Plants are dioecious; small white to lilac, four-merous flowers cluster in axillary cymes in spring. The fruit is a globose drupe 5–7 mm across that ripens bright red in autumn and persists into winter. Leaves are collected year-round, sun-dried, and used in TCM to clear heat, resolve toxin, and treat burns, sore throat, dysentery, and respiratory infection.