Winter melon

("Compendium of Materia Medica")

Synonyms: white melon, water mushroom ((Ben Jing)), vegetable root ("Guangzhi") , white winter melon ("Bielu"), Dizhi ("Shenxian Materia Medica"), Pugua (Meng Shen), vegetable leeks ("Qunfang Pu"), dong melon ("Leiya Shenglan"), pillow melon ("Meng Shen") "Chinese Medicinal Plants").

The source is the fruit of winter melon, a plant of the Cucurbitaceae family.

Plant form of winter melon

Annual climbing herb. The stem grows thick and slightly square, densely covered with yellowish-brown thorns, and branched by tendrils. Single leaves are alternate; with a long stalk, the stalk is more than 10 cm long; the leaves are broadly ovate or nearly kidney-shaped, 15 to 30 cm long, almost equal in width to length, with 5 to 7 angular or lobed shapes, and a pointed apex , the base is heart-shaped, the edges are serrated, both sides are covered with coarse hairs, and the veins are reticular. Flowers are unisexual, monoecious, solitary in leaf axil; male flower pedicel is 5-15 cm long, calyx is tubular, 5-lobed, lobes are triangular-ovate, with serrated edges, corolla is yellow, 5-lobed to the base, diameter 6-10 cm, the petals are spread out, 3 to 5 cm long, and there are 5 stamens, forming 3 stamens, 2 of which are wider and have 2 anther chambers, and the other one is narrower and have 1 anther chamber; the female flower stalk is short, less than 5 cm long, with stamens Lower chamber, oblong, densely pubescent, stigma 3-lobed, slightly twisted. The gourd fruit is fleshy. Oval or rectangular, sometimes nearly round, 30 to 60 cm long and 20 to 35 cm in diameter; the peel is light green, with a layer of white waxy powder on the surface, and the flesh is white and thick: the fruit stem is cylindrical, with Longitudinal groove. Many seeds, white or yellow-white; oval or long oval, usually with an edge, and some cultivars have smooth edges. The flowering period is from May to June. The fruiting period is from June to August.

It is cultivated all over the country.

The stems (Winter Melon Vine), leaves (Winter Melon Leaves), peel (Winter Melon Peel), fruit pulp (Winter Melon Pulp), and seeds (Winter Melon Seeds) of this plant are also used for medicinal purposes, each of which is detailed in the article.

Collect in late summer and early autumn, when the fruits are ripe.

Chemical composition: Each pound of winter melon contains 1.5 grams of protein, 8 grams of sugar, 15 grams of crude fiber, 1.1 grams of ash, 72 mg of calcium, 45 mg of phosphorus, 1.1 mg of iron, 0.04 mg of carotene, and thiamine. Vitamin C 0.04 mg, riboflavin 0.08 mg, niacin 1.1 mg, vitamin C 61 mg.

Compared with male flowers, female flowers contain more arginine, aspartic acid, and glutamic acid; they also contain asparagine, which is absent in male flowers.

Its nature and flavor are sweet and cool.

① "Bie Lu": "Sweet, slightly cold."

② Tao Hongjing: "Cold and sharp in nature."

③ "Drinking and Diet Essentials" ": "It tastes sweet, mild and slightly cold, non-toxic."

④"Southern Yunnan Materia Medica": "It has a mild temperament and a sweet and light taste."

⑤"Yunnan Materia Medica" 》: "It tastes sour and sweet, slightly cold."

Returns through the lung, large and small intestine, and bladder meridians.

① "Southern Yunnan Materia Medica": "Enter the spleen and lung meridians."

② "Lei Gongpao Pharmaceutical Properties": "Enter the spleen, stomach, large and small intestine meridians." "

③"Jade Catalpa Medicinal Solution": "Start with the Taiyin Lung and Foot-Taiyang Bladder Meridians" ④"Compendium of Materia Medica": "Enter the Heart and Spleen Meridians."

Its main functions are diuresis, phlegm elimination, heat-clearing and detoxification. Cure edema, fullness, athlete's foot, gonorrhea, phlegm, cough and asthma, heat and depression, thirst, diarrhea, carbuncle, hemorrhoids; and detoxify fish poison and alcohol poison.

① "Bie Lu": "It is mainly used to treat bloating in the lower abdomen, facilitate urination, and quench thirst."

② Tao Hongjing: "Detoxify, quench thirst, and relieve boredom. Take it directly and squeeze the juice. "

③Meng Shen: "Replenishes qi and resists aging, removes chest and heart congestion, and removes head and face heat." ④"Rihuazi Materia Medica": "Removes troubles." Chest and diaphragm heat can be used to eliminate heat and carbuncle. "

⑤"Compendium of Materia Medica": "The main three functions are to eliminate thirst and relieve accumulated heat, and to benefit the large and small intestines."

⑥ "Compendium of Materia Medica": "For those suffering from carbuncles on the back of the hair and all carbuncles, cut off a large piece and place it on the sore. The heat will make it easier and disperse the heat and poisonous gas."

⑦ "Daily Materia Medica": "Five stranguria."

⑧"Southern Yunnan Materia Medica": "Cure phlegm and asthma, take ginger decoction. It also relieves distant miasma and cures convulsions in children." "Moistens the lungs and eliminates heat and phlegm, Relieves cough and facilitates urination. "

⑨" Materia Medica Zaixin": "clears heart fire, purges spleen fire, removes dampness and removes wind, reduces swelling and thirst, relieves summer heat and resolves heat."

< p> ⑩ "Suixiju Diet Spectrum": "clears heat, nourishes the stomach and promotes body fluids, cleanses filth and cures annoyance, eliminates carbuncle and circulates water, cures fullness, diarrhea and cholera, and detoxifies fish, wine and other poisons." "It also cures edema and relieves heat. Wet. "

Usage and dosage: Decoction, 2 to 4 taels; simmer or puree. External use: Pound and apply or decoct and wash with water.

Taboos ① Meng Shen: "It is better to eat when it is hot, and it is better to eat when it is cold."

② Cui Yuhao's "Food Classic": "Do not eat when it is cold, it will benefit people." , and stomach reflux disease. "

③ "Ben Cao Jing Shu": "If you have cold kidneys and chronic illness, you should not eat."

④ "Yilin". "Zun Yao": "Those who are weak should avoid eating, as they are prone to ulcers.

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Selection of Recipes ① To treat water, edema, and asthma: One large winter melon, cut a lid at the top, take out the middle flesh and use it, add adzuki beans (wash out with water), fill the winter melon, and then use the lid When it is combined, sign it with a bamboo skewer, tie it with twine, tie it with paper tendons and yellow mud, and dry it. Use glutinous rice to break it, take out two large baskets of bran pieces, bury the winter melon inside, simmer it on fire, and wait. Take out the heat, remove the mud, scrape the winter melon, slice it thinly, bake the beans into fine powder, boil the batter into balls, take 50 pills each, and fry the winter melon seeds in soup. Give it away at any time, Xiaoxu will benefit from it for testing, (Winter Melon Pills in "Yang's Family Prescription")

②Cure thirsty: One winter melon, peeled off, buried in the wetland, after a month Take it out, break it open, take the clear juice and drink it ("Sheng Ji Zong Lu") ③ To treat thirst, drink water, the urine will be sweet, like fat bran flakes, day and night starting from 60 to 70: one winter melon. , 10 liang of Coptis chinensis. Cut off the melon head and remove the pulp. Add the powder of Coptis chinensis and simmer it in the fire. After the Coptis chinensis is cooked, twist it into a cloth and take the juice. Take it once a day, but take two or three pieces of melon. According to Fang Fang, take melon juice and Coptis chinensis powder, and take 30 pills on an empty stomach. Do not take pork or cold water. 》)

④Treatment of thirst in children between 1-month and 5th month, sudden cold and sudden heat: Take the juice of winter melon ("Qianjin Prescription")

⑤Treatment of thirst in children. Benefits: Pound the winter melon juice alone and drink it ("Qianjin Prescription")

⑥ To treat dysentery after typhoid fever, body fluid depletion, swollen limbs and dry mouth: one winter melon, wrapped in loess mud about five inches thick. Simmer until thoroughly cooked, remove the soil, twist the juice and take it ("Ancient and Modern Prescriptions")

⑦Treat the hair of the deceased who was hacked on the back: Cut off the head of the winter melon, and close the sore. When the melon is rotten, cut it off and close it. ("Repairing the Back of the Elbow")

⑧Treatment of hemorrhoid pain: Wash with winter melon decoction ("Recipe") ⑨Treatment of prickly heat in summer: Slice the winter melon and apply it on it. ("Qianjin Prescription")

⑩To treat sores caused by sweating in horses: burn and grind dry winter melon, wash and apply it ("Outline")

⑾To treat fish poisoning: drink winter melon. Juice. ("Xiaopin Fang") Reminder: This Chinese herbal medicine of winter melon comes from the Internet, please follow the doctor's advice before use.