English name FRUCTUS AMOMI

Alias spring sand nuts

Origin This product is the dried mature fruit of the ginger plant Yangchun sand Amomum villosum Lour., green shell sand Amomum villosum Lour. var. xanthioides T. L. Wu et Senjen or Wu et Senjen or the dried mature fruit of Hainan sand Amomum longiligulare T. L. Wu. The fruits are harvested in summer and fall when ripe, and dried in the sun or at low temperature.

Method of preparation Remove impurities. When used, it is crushed.

Traits

Yangchunsha, green sand: oval or ovoid, with inconspicuous trigonometry, 1.5-2cm long, 1-1.5cm in diameter, brown surface, densely spiny, with perianth stumps at the tip, and often with a pedicel at the base. The pericarp is thin and soft. The seeds are clustered into a mass, with three blunt ribs, with a white septum, dividing the seed mass into three petals, with 5-26 seeds per petal. Seeds are irregular polyhedral, 2-3mm in diameter; surface brownish red or dark brown, with fine wrinkles, covered with light brown membranous aril; hard, endosperm gray-white. Gas aromatic and strong, taste pungent, slightly bitter.

Hainan sand: long oval or ovoid, with obvious trigonous, 1.5-2cm long, 0.8-1.2cm in diameter, the surface is flaky, branched soft spines, the base with fruiting peduncle scars. The pericarp is thick and hard. Seed clusters are small, with 3 to 24 seeds per valve; the seeds are 1.5 to 2 mm in diameter and have a slightly faint odor.

The flavor is pungent and warm. Attributes to the spleen, stomach and kidney meridians.

Functions: Resolving dampness and opening the stomach, warming the spleen and stopping diarrhea, regulating qi and stabilizing the fetus. It is used in treating dampness and obstruction, epigastric plumpness and lack of hunger, coldness of spleen and stomach, vomiting and diarrhea, malignant obstruction of pregnancy, and restlessness of the fetus.

Dosage 3~6g, into the decoction should be after the next.

Store in a cool and dry place.

Remarks

(1) For loss of appetite and vomiting and diarrhea caused by dampness obstructing the spleen and stomach, it is often used together with Atractylodes macrocephala and Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae; for stagnation of qi in the spleen and stomach and distension of the epigastric region, it is often used together with Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, Magnolia Piperis and Mucuna Pruriens; for deficiency of qi and stagnation of the spleen, it can be used together with Codonopsis Pilosulae and Atractylodes Macrocephala. For abdominal pain and diarrhea caused by coldness in the spleen and stomach, it is often used together with dry ginger, ripe epimedium and tangerine peel to warm the middle and dispel cold. For the treatment of fetal restlessness, it is often used in conjunction with Atractylodes macrocephala and Sophora japonica; for the treatment of malignant obstruction of pregnancy, it can be used in conjunction with Semen xia and Bamboo Roots.