Butterfly bush, also known as buddleia and Mi Meng Hua in Pinyin, is an ordinary shrub usually found in the field and valley. When it blooms, clusters of flowers tend to attract hummingbirds and bees. However, it is so inconspicuous that no one would associate it with the well-known title – the "eye guardian". As a matter of fact, this Chinese herb plays a huge role in the treatment and prevention of human eye problems. According to legend, as early as more than 1,000 years ago Sun Simiao, a famous physician and "King of Medicine" in Tang Dynasty, ever used buddleia to cure little white dragon’s eye disease. Even if it is legend, at least it conveys two messages to us – Sun’s superb medical skill and buddleia’s incredible healing power.

Butterfly bush medicinal uses
Butterfly bush leaves, flowers, and roots can be used medicinally. In particular, its flower buds are commonly used for eye care. The importance of eye health is self-explanatory to human. Unfortunately, eye diseases can be complicated by many medical diseases, such as Hypertension, Arteriosclerosis, and Diabetes. And many autoimmune diseases can cause eye problems too, for example, corneal ulcer and inflammation in Behcet’s disease, uveitis in ankylosing spondylitis, dry eyes and secondary infections in Sjogren’s Syndrome and lupus, and vitreous opacities or even Cataracts for long-term use of corticosteroids in patients. Hence, it is necessary to treat eye diseases while dealing with the primary diseases.

As mentioned above, buddleia is the herb that can make a difference on eye treatment. Clinically it is frequently used for the treatment of eye diseases like corneal opacity, dim eyesight, glaucoma, and nebula. Now pharmacology study found that the flavonoids (like acacetin) can repair the damaged cell membrane of lens, prevent the protein denaturation in lens, reduce lens opacity, and in the end restore vision. From the point of view of Traditional Chinese medicine, it moistens liver to improve eyesight. For instance, cataract is a common eye disease among the elderly, which may lead to blindness if left untreated. And typically TCM fumigates eye with the butterfly bush tea to bring in relief.