CHINESE FOOD

Origin
Coix Seed is the dried ripe kernel of Coix lacryma-jobi L var. ma-yuen ( Roman. ) Stapf. The plant is collected in autumn when the fruit is ripe and dried in the sun. The fruit is picked up, dried in the sun, and the kernel is separated from the shell, yellowish-brown coat and foreign matter.

Description and Identification
Borad ovoid or elongated-elliptical, 4 ~ 8mm long, 3 ~ 6mm wide. Externally milky white, smooth, occasionally with yellowish-brown teata. One end obtusedly rouded, the other end relatively broad and slighdy dented with 1 pale brown dotted hilum. Dorsal surface ruded and protruding; ventral surface having 1 relatively broad and deep longitudinal furrow. Texture hard, fracture white and starchy. Odour, slight; taste, slightly sweet.

Chemical Ingredients
It has coixenolide, 13% ~ 14% crude protein,2% ~ 8% lipide and polysaccharides.

Property and Channel Tropism
Property: weak and sweet in taste; clod in nature. Channel tropism: spleen, stomach, lung.

Action and Indications
To invigorate the spleen function and promote diuresis, to alleviate arthritis, to arrest diarrhea, to remove heat and facilitate the drainage of pus.

Edema, oliguria; arthritis with contracutre of joints; diarrhea due to diminished functin of the spleen; lung abscess, appendicitis; verruca plana.

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Origin
Nutmeg is the dried kernel of Myristica fragrans Houtt. The ripe fruits are collected in winter and spring, and the kernel is separated from the shell,dried in the sun,removed from oil by stir-firied with gentle heat.

Description and Identification
Ovoid ellipsoidal,2 ~ 3cm long, 1.5 ~ 2.5cm in diameter. Externally greyish-white or greyish-yellow , sometimes covered with white powder (line powder ) . Pale longitudinal furrows and irregular reiculated wrinkles occurred all over the seed. A hilum occurring at the broad end,showing a pale coloured,rounded convex. Chalaza dark and dented. Raphe longitudinally furrowed, connecting with two ends. Texture hard, fracture showing marblelike striations, brownish-yellow, interweaved. A dried and shrnken embryo visible at the broad end,oily. Odour,strongly aromatic; taste, pungent.

Chemical Ingredients
It has tetradecylic acid and myristicin which is poisonous. In addition,it has oleanolicacid and 25% ~ 35% fattiness oil. In the oil,there are trimyristin,trimyristin,a small quantity of triolein , etc.

Property and Channel Tropism
Propery: acrid in taste, warm in nature.
Channel tropism: spleen, stomach, and large intestine.

Action and Indications
To warm the spleen and stomach and promote the flow of qi, to arrest diarrhea as an astringent. Deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach with persistent diarrhea,epigastric and abdominal distension and pain, anorexia, and vomiting.

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Origin
Common Yam Rhizome is the dried rhizome of Dioscorea opposita Thunb.

Description and Identification
Subcylindrical,curved or somewhat flattened, 15 ~ 30cm long, 1.5 ~ 6cm in diameter. Externally yellowish-white or pale yellow, longitudinally furrowed and wrinkled, and bearing fibrous root scars, with occasional patches of brownish cork. Texture heavy, compact and tough; uneasily broken, fracture white and starchy. Odourless; taste, weak, acidulous, and viscous when chewed.Guang Shanyao cylindrical , the two ends even, 9 ~ 18cm long, 1.5 ~ 3cm in diameter. Externally smooth, white or yellowish-white.

Chemical Ingredients
Its tuber has saponin, mucilage, choline, amylum, glycoprotein and 16 kinds of amino acid.

Property and Channel Tropism
Property: sweet in taste, neutral in nature. Channel tropism: spleen, lung, kidney.

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