property and effect of Chinese Medical herbs(2)---------five flavours

The Chinese Medicine are not only classified into four characters, but also into five types to their flavours, such as acridness, sweetness, sourness, bitterness and saltiness. Some herbs possess no distinct flavour and are said to be "bland", but actually the taste slightly sweet. So it is accustomed to group the sweet drugs with the bland ones together, and classify as a "sweet-bland" flavour.

The actions of the five flavours can be summarised as follows:

acrid flavour can expel and activate;
sour flavour can astringe and preserve;
sweet flavour can tonify, regulate and moderate;
bitter flavour can dry , lower and release;
salty flavour can soften and purge;
bland flavour can promote diuresis.


The five flavours can be directly differentiated by the taste organ, but may also be determined by the effects of clinical practice. For instance, Radix Pureariae(Ge Gen) is proved clinically to be an agent for expelling superficial evils and acrid flavour has the same action, so it is considered that Radix Pureariae(Ge Gen)
has an acrid flavour. But in fact, it is not true. It is evident that such inference is not always accurate, since the action of herbs is not entirely determined by their flavours. Hence, those recorded in the literature may not be coincident with the actual flavour of the drugs.