Fructus Lycii (Gouqizi) –Wolfberry Fruit
Origin
Wolfberry Fruit is dried ripe fruit of Lycium barbarum L.The drug is collected in summer and autumn when the fruit turns orange-red. After drying in the shade to make the pericarp shrunken, the drug is exposed to strong sunlight until the exocarp is dried and hard, and the pulp soft, the fruit stalk is then removed.
Description and Identification
Subfusiform, slightly flattened, 6 ~ 18mm long, 3 ~ 8mm in diameter. Externally scarlet of dark red, marked with a protrudent style sear at the apex, and a white fruit stalk scar at the base. Pericarp pliable and shrunken,sarcocarp fleshy,soft and viscous. Seeds flat and reniform. Odourless; taste, sweet and slightly sour.
Chemical Ingredients
7.09% amylose; lycine, atropine,hyoscyamine, zeaxanthin, physalien, etc.
Property and Channel Tropism
Property : sweet in taste, neutral in nature. Channel tropism: liver, kidney.
Action and Indications
To benefit the liver and the kidney, to replenish vital essence and to improve eyesight. General debility with deficiency of vital essence manifested by aching of the loins and knees, dizziness and tinnitus; diabetes caused by internal heat; anemia; impaired vision.
Place of Production
Ning xia is the main place of production. Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu and Shan’xi also produce Gou qi.
Recipes of Medicated Diet
1. Yi Shou Yin Er Tang (Tremella Soup)
[ Ingedients]
15g tremella
15g gou qi zi, wolfberry fruit ( Fructus Lycii )
15g long yan rou, longan aril ( Arillus Longan )
150g crystal sugar
