Chinese Holly Leaf

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Supplements the Liver and Kidney and supports depletion patterns - Gou Gu Ye is used when chronic weakness shows up as sore low back and knees, weak sinews and bones, dizziness, or tinnitus in a worn-down constitution rather than a robust excess pattern.
• Assists consumptive cough and hemoptysis from chronic deficiency - regional materia medica use includes pulmonary-taxation patterns with lingering cough, blood-streaked sputum, or fatigue-related bleeding where deeper depletion and mild deficiency heat are part of the picture.
• Dispels wind-damp and relieves impediment pain - despite its mildly nourishing character, Gou Gu Ye is also used for wind-damp Bi pain, traumatic injury, and aching or numb weakness in the limbs when deficiency and obstruction coexist.

Secondary Actions

• This herb sits in a historical naming tangle because some older sources blurred Gou Gu Ye with Gong Lao Ye; modern pharmacognosy separates them and assigns Gou Gu Ye specifically to the dried leaf of Ilex cornuta.
• Compared with the colder berberine-rich Mahonia leaf sold as Gong Lao Ye, Gou Gu Ye is more centered on Liver-Kidney support and chronic weakness than on draining active Damp-Heat.

Classic Formulas

• Gou Gu Ye with Du Zhong, Xu Duan, or Sang Ji Sheng - common traditional pairing logic for low-back and knee weakness with concurrent Liver-Kidney deficiency and lingering wind-damp aching.
• Gou Gu Ye with Bai Ji or E Jiao - regional deficiency-cough combinations when chronic Lung depletion leads to cough or minor hemoptysis and the treatment goal is to support while limiting further damage.
• Wind-damp injury combinations with Qin Jiao or Ji Xue Teng - used when Bi pain or traumatic injury appears on top of an already depleted constitution.

Classical References

• Hong Kong Baptist University and Zhongyifangji list Gou Gu Ye (枸骨叶) as bitter and cool, identify it as Ilicis Cornutae Folium, and summarize its functions as supplementing the Liver and Kidney, nourishing Qi and Blood, and dispelling wind-damp for cough, hemoptysis, lumbar weakness, and Bi pain.
• TCM Pro likewise records Gou Gu Ye as bitter and cool with Liver and Kidney tropism, reinforcing that the modern herb identity is primarily a Liver-Kidney leaf medicine rather than a Lung-focused heat-clearing leaf.
• Me & Qi's identity note on Gong Lao Ye explains the long-standing confusion between Mahonia leaf and holly leaf, but specifically states that modern pharmacognosy now separates Gou Gu Ye as the holly leaf from Ilex cornuta.