Flavours

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The five flavours are PUNGENT, SWEET, SOUR, BITTER, SALTY, TASTELESS and
ASTRINGENT. Since sweet and tasteless usually coexist, and since sour and astringent drugs have
the same effects, pungent, sweet, sour, bitter and salty tastes are the cardinal flavours and are
habitually known as five flavours. Drugs of different flaovurs and different flavours and different
compositions show different pharmacological and therapeutic actions, while drugs of the same taste
usually have similarities in effect and even in composition. The flavours don't necessarily refer to the
real tastes of the drugs. Sometimes they are sorted according to the drugs actions rather than tastes.
Therefore, the flavours of some drugs described in books on materia medica are often different from
their true tastes. Various flavours have different effects.