Fructus Foeniculi (Xiaohuixiang)–Common Fennel Fruit
Origin
Common Fennel Fruit is the ripe fruit of Foeniculum vulgare Mill.The plant is collected in autumn when fruit nearly ripe and dried in the sun,then the drug is tapped off or removed from foreign matter.
Description and Identification
Cremocarp, sylindrical, some slightly curved,4 ~ 8mm long, 1.5 ~ 2.5mm in diameter. Externally yellowish-green or pale yellow,tapering slightly towards hoth ends,apex bearing remains of yellowish-brown projecting stylopodium, sometimes having a small fruit stalk at the base. Mericarp elongated-ellipitical, with each dorsal surface bearing five ribs and commissural surface flattened and broad. Transversely cut surface showing a pentagonal outling,the four sides of dorsal surface nearly equal in length. Odour, characteristically aromatic; taste, slightly sweet and pungent.
Chemical ingredients
Anisole, a -fenchone methylchavicol, anisaldehyde, etc.
Property and Channel Tropism
Property: acrid in taste; warm in nature. Channel tropism: liver, kidney, spleen, stomach.
Action and Indications
To dispel cold and relieve pain,to regulate the stomach funcion.
Scrotal hernia with pain and cold extremities; dysmenorrhea with lower abdominal pain and cold sensation; distending pain in the epigastrium with anorexia, vomiting and diarrhea; hydrocele of tunica vaginalis.
Origin
Origin
Origin
It is possible to come across names such as “Szechwan pepper,” “Chinese pepper,” “Japanese pepper,” “aniseed pepper,” “Sprice pepper,” “Chinese prickly-ash,” “Fagara,” “sansho,” “Nepal pepper,” “Indonesian lemon pepper,” and others, sometimes referring to specific species within this group, since this plant is not well known enough in the West to have an established name. In Tibet, the spice is known as e-ma or Kham pepper. At least some of the brands found in Asian grocery stores in the United States label the product in a confusing way; for instance, the Oriental Mascot brand labels the spice as “red pepper corn,” although the Chinese characters on the package indicate it is Sichuan pepper. Some brands also use the English description “Dehydrated Prickly Ash” since Sichuan pepper, and Japanese sansho, are from related plants that are sometimes called prickly ash because of their thorns.
