Fruits and Vegetables · Middle Grade · Shennong Bencao Jing · The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica · Source texts
Shennong Bencao Jing · The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica
Fruits and Vegetables · Middle Grade
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Yingtao · Cherry
Sweet, neutral; classified non-toxic. Listed for regulating the center and benefiting Spleen qi. It is said to improve complexion and beautify resolve.
Meishi · Mei Fruit
Sour, neutral. Listed for bringing qi downward, removing heat, vexation and fullness, settling the heart, limb and body pain, one-sided wasting and numbness, and deadened flesh; removing blue-black marks and harmful disorders. Grows in river valleys.
Liaoshi
Pungent, warm. Listed for brightening eyes, warming the center, resisting wind and cold, draining water qi, puffiness of face and eyes, and abscesses and ulcers. Maliao is listed for removing leech-like worms from the intestines and lightening the body. Grows by waterways and marshes.
Congshi · Cong Seeds
Pungent, warm. Listed for brightening eyes and supplementing insufficiency of the center. Its stalks may be made into a decoction; they are listed for cold damage with cold and heat, bringing sweat, and wind-strike with swelling of face and eyes. Xie is pungent and listed for metal wounds and deteriorating wounds; it is claimed to lighten the body, remove hunger and resist aging. Grows in level marshland.
Shuisu
Pungent, slightly warm. Listed for bringing qi downward, the uncertain “killing gu” phrase, countering bad breath, removing poisons and warding off malign qi. Prolonged use is claimed to communicate with numinous powers, lighten the body and resist aging. Grows in pools and marshes.
Note: The graph for gu in the supplied “killing gu” phrase is not the usual graph for gu poison; its sense is left uncertain rather than silently emended.
Xinghe · Apricot Kernel
Sweet, warm. Listed for counterflow cough and upward qi, thunderous rumbling, throat impediment, bringing qi downward, childbirth and lactation, metal wounds, cold at the heart, and running-piglet disorder. Grows in river valleys.
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