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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Origin

Mulberry Fruitis dried fruit-spike of Moras alba L.The drug is collecte in April to Jun when the fruit truns red, dried in the sun, or dried after steaming briefly.

Description and Identification

Collective fruit,aggregated by many small achenes,fruit-spike oblong, 1 ~ 2cm long,5 ~ 8mm in diameter. Yellowish-brown,brownish-red to dark purple,with a short fruit stalk. Achene ovoid, slightly flattened, about 2mm long and 1mm wide, with 4 fleshy perianthsegments. Odour, slightly; slightly sour and sweet in taste.

Chemical Ingredients

Sugar,tannic acid,malic acid,vitamin B1\B2, and carotene,etc.

Property and Channel Tropism

Property: sweet and acerbity in taste, cold in nature.
Channel tropism: heart, liver, kidney.

Action and Indications

To nourish yin and blood and promote the production of body fluid.
Vertigo and tinnitus, palpitation, insomnia, premature greying of hair and beard; thirst due to impairment of body fluid; diabetes caused by internal heat;constipation due to deficiency of blood.

Place of Production

It is mainly produced in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, etc.

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Origin

Siberian Solomonseal Rhizome is the dried rhizome of Polygonatum kingianum Coll.et Hemsl., Polygonatum sibiricum Red. or Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua. According to shape, these are commonly known as ” Dahuangjing” , ” Jitouhuangjing” , and ” Jiangxinghuangjing” . The drug is collected in spring and autumn,removed from the fibrous root,washed clean,blanched in boiling water or steamed to soften, and dried.

Description and Identification

Dahuangjing: Freshy tuberculated,up to more than 10cm long, 3 ~ 6cm wide,2 ~ 3cm thick. Externallt pale yellow to yelloish-brown,with ring-shaped nodes,striatums and fibrous toot scars, the upper part od modes showing lateral stem scars orbiculate with sunken circumference and prominent in centre. Texture hard and tenacious,uneasily broken,francture horny,pale yellow to yellowish-brown. Odour, slight; taste, sweet, and viscous on chewing.

Jitouhuangjiang: Tubercles curved and cylindrical,3 ~ 10cm long,0.5 ~ 1.5cm diameter. Node 2 ~4cm long,somewhtat concial,often branched; externally yellowish-white or greyish-white, ranslucent with longitudinal wrinkles, round stem scars 5 ~ 8mm in diameter.

Jiangxinhuangjing: Elongated tubercles,varying in length,often connected in groups of several tubercles. Externally greyish-yellow or yellowish-brown, rough, bearing prominent and orbiculate stem scars on the upper part of nodes ,0.8-1.5cm in diameter.

Not to be used as a drug if it tastes bitter.

Chemical Ingredients

It has steroidal saponins such as sibiricoside A, 14 a -hydroxysibiricoside A.

Property and Channel Tropism

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

Action and Indications

To reinforce qi and nourish yin, to invigorate the function of the spleen, to moisten the lung, and to benefit the kidney.

Weakness of the spleen and the stomach marked by lassitude, dryness in the mouth nad anorexia; dry cough due to deficiency of yin of then lung; deficiency of vital essence and blood; diabetes caused by internal heat.

Place of Production

Polygonatum kingianum Coll.et Hemsl.: Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou Province Polygonatum sibiricum Red.: Hebei, Neimenggu, shaan xi province. Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua.: Anhui, Hunan, Guizhou Province, etc.

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