Gardenia Fruit
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Heat Clearing Herbs to Clear Heat and Purge Fire
Gardenia Fruit
Latin:
Fructus Gardeniae
Origin:
The plant Gardenia, an evergreen shrub, of the Rubiaceae, or madder family, contains about 200 species native to tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia. Gardenias have white or yellow tubular flowers, evergreen leaves, and large, berrylike fruits containing a sticky, orange pulp.
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Cape jasmine (G. jasminoides), native to China, is the fragrant species sold by florists. The fruit is also used as an herb. This plant is produced in the provinces to the south of the Yangtze River in China.
It is picked and reaped in autumn and winter and used when raw or after being fried and parched or after charring.
Also called Cape Jasmine Fruit.
Properties:
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Bitter in flavor, cold in nature, it is related to the heart, lung, stomach and three warmers channels.
Functions:
Purges intense heat, relieves restlessness, clears away heat, removes dampness by diuresis, removes heat from the blood, removes toxic substances, subdues swelling and kills pains.
Applications:
1. Used for febrile diseases with excessive heat:
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Being bitter, cold, refreshing and lowering, this herb clears and purges pathogenic fire from the chest, the spleen and stomach and the abdomen to achieve the effects of removing fire from the heart to relieve restlessness. Therefore, it is used for such ailments as febrile diseases, accumulation of pathogenic heat in the heart, vexation with restlessness and dysphoria (excessive pain, anguish, agitation, disquiet, restlessness). It is always used with tasteless fermented beans, e.g., Zhizi Chi Tang, in order to purge pathogenic heat and relieve restlessness. It is also often used together with skullcap root (Radix Scutellariae), Chinese goldthread rhizome (Rhizoma Coptidis) and corktree bark (Cortex Phellodendri), e.g., Huanglian Jiedu Tang, for exuberant toxic heat, high fever with excessive thirst, coma with delirium and heat syndromes of the chest, the spleen and stomach and the abdomen in order to deflect the fire force directly outward.
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2. Used for jaundice due to pathogenic dampness-heat:
This herb can clear pathogenic dampness-heat from the liver and gall bladder to relieve jaundice. It is used together with capillary artimisia (Herba Artimisiae Scopariae) and rhubarb root (Radix Rhei), e.g., Yin Chen Hao Tang, for ailments caused by the stagnation of pathogenic dampness-heat in the liver and gallbladder, such as jaundice, fever and oliguria with reddish urine.
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3. Used for hematemesis (vomiting of blood), epistaxis, or nosebleed, and hematuria (blood in the urine) due to blood-heat:
This herb can clear away heat, remove heat from the blood and dispel toxic substances. It is often used with cocongrass rhizome (Rhizoma Imperatae), raw rehmannia, skullcap root (Radix Scutellariae), etc., for ailments caused by bleeding due to blood-heat such as hematemesis, epistaxis, hematuria, etc.
4. Used for skin and external diseases, pyogenic infections and traumatic injuries:
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This herb can remove heat from the blood, expel toxic substances, subdue swelling and alleviate pains, so it is also mostly used in combination with such herbs as honeysuckle flower (Flos Lonicerae), weeping forsythia fruit (Fructus Forsythiae), dandelion (Herba Taraxaci), etc., for skin and external diseases due to toxic heat.
Dosage and Administration:
3-10 g.
Decoct the ingredients for drinking. Gardenia fruit peel tends to extend its potency to the superficies to remove heat from muscles and skin, while gardenia fruit seed tends to act inward to clear away interior heat. If used when raw, it will enter the qi system to purge fire, while if used after charring, it will enter the bloodstream to arrest bleeding.
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Cautions on Use:
This herb should be avoided by anyone who has deficiency of the spleen with loose stools because it is bitter, cold and harmful to the stomach.
Reference Materials:
'Shen Nong's Herbal Classic' :
"It is indicated for pathogenic heat in internal organs, such as the heart, lungs, liver, stomach and kidneys, heat-qi in the stomach, rosacea with flushed face, tuberculoid leprosy, leprosy and other skin and external diseases."
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'Methodology of Medication' :
"It treats vexation with insomnia, irritability with despair and stagnation of blood with dysuria."
'Supplement to Amplified Materia Medica' :
"It purges fire from the chest, the spleen and stomach and the abdomen, clears heat from the blood through the epigastric region, treats epigastric pains due to the excess of heat, removes heat stagnation and recirculates stagnated qi."
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Toxic or Side Effects:
Modern Researches:
This herb contains gardening, gardenoside, geniposide, crocin, crocetin, ursonic acid, etc. Gardenia decoction and alcohol extract can normalize the functioning of the gall bladder, promote the secretion of bile, reduce bilirubin in the blood, promote its rapid discharge and inhibit hemolytic streptococcus and dermatomyces. This herb has antipyretic, analgesic, tranquilizing, blood-pressure-reducing and hemostatic effects., http://www.100md.com