Choerospondias, Guang Zao 广枣

Hog Plum; Choerospondias fruit
Guang Zao  广枣  (TCM)
Snying Zho Sha  སྙིང་ཞོ་ཤ  (Tibetan)

Hooker, Icones Plantarum, vol. 26 (1898)

Choerospondias axillaris
(Photo by Zhangzhugang) (Wikimedia)

Choerospondias Guang Zao
(Chengdu Medicine Market, Adam, 2017)

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Botanical name:
Choerospondias axillaris

Parts used:
Dried Ripe Fruit

Temperature & Taste:
Neutral. Sweet, Sour

Uses:
1. Moves Qi and Blood
-Pectoral pain from Qi and Blood stasis
-Palpitation, Shortness of Breath

2. Benefits the Heart, Calms the Mind:
-Restlessness, Anxiety
-Heart Fire, Carditis (Tibetan Medicine)

DOSE:
1500mg–2.5 grams

NOTE,
In Tibetan Medicine, it is one of the 3 Zho Sha medicines:
i. Choerospondias has Heart-shaped seed
ii. Mucuna prurita (and Canavalia gladiata) have Kidney-shaped seed
iii. Entada scandens has Spleen-shaped seeds.
These three medicines are sometimes combined

Main Combinations:
1. Anxiety, irritability, poor concentration, mental dullness, Insanity, Mild Depression:
i. with Asafetida, Costus, Nutmeg, Betel Nut (as in Mental Happiness of Tibetan Medicine)
ii. with Aloeswood, Nutmeg, Tabasheer, Chebula, Clove, Asafetida, Costus, Frankincense (as in Eleven Holders of Life of Tibetan Medicine)
iii. with Triphala, Nutmeg, Frankincense, Aloeswood, Asafetida, Clove, Tabasheer, Safflower, White Sandalwood (as in Bi Ma La of Tibetan Medicine)
2. Wind affecting the Heart, Heart Fire due to overactive Mind, with Nutmeg, Long Pepper, Costus, Inula racemosa (as in Nutmeg 5 of Tibetan Medicine)

Major Formulas:
Eleven Holders of Life (Srog dzin dcu gcig)
Aloeswood 15 (Tibetan Medicine)
Aloeswood 31 (Tibetan Medicine)
Aloeswood 35 (Tibetan Medicine)
Mental Happiness (Sems kyi bde skyid)
Bi Ma La (Tibetan Medicine)
Nux Vomica 13 (Ko byi bcu gsum)

Cautions:
None noted

Main Preparations used: