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Gardenia fruit, Zhi Zi 执子

Cape Jasmine fruit
Zhi Zi (TCM)
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 1842

Gardenia Fruit, Zhi Zi (Adam, 2017)

Botanical name:
Gardenia jasminoides

Parts used:
Fruit

Temperature & Taste:
Cold, dry. Bitter

Classifications:
B. Clear Strong Heat or Fire

Uses:
1. Clears Heat:
-Fever with restlessness (Chinese Pharmacopoeia)
-insomnia, irritability, delirious speech
-damp-heat or heat sores of the Face and Mouth
-'disperses pathogenic Heat, Wind and toxin, eliminates fever in an epidemic' (Zhen Quan)
-'It treats flushed face with rosacea, white, red pertinacious skin lesions, sores and tinea' (Shen Nong Ben Cao)
-'Eye inflammation with pain and hot feeling'. (Ming Yi Bie Lu)

2. Clears Damp Heat, Promotes Urine:
-painful urination, dribbling urine
-Damp-heat obstruction of the Liver and Gall Bladder
-'treats Jaundice of five types, and five kinds of Stranguria'. (Zhen Quan)

3. Clears Heat, Moves Blood, Stops Bleeding:
-Bleeding caused by Heat in the Blood; hemoptysis, hematuria, irregular Uterine Bleeding
-'dissolves blood stasis in a wound or injury'. (Li Shi Zhen)
-often charred when used to stop bleeding

4. Externally:
-moves the Blood, eases Pain; powder applied with vinegar or alcohol


Dose:
Decoction: 6–9 grams;
Powder: 500mg–3 grams

Preparation:
1. Stir-Fried Gardenia (Jiao Zhi Zi):
Stir-fry the whole or broken fruit until brown-black but not overly burnt. This is better for Heat-type Bleeding.

Main Combinations:
1. Gardenia Zhi Zi with Paeonia Mu Dan Pi to release constrained Qi and clear Heat; Headaches, Menstrual disorders and PMS
2. Constrained Qi, Gardenia Zhi Zi with Bupleurum Chai Hu and Cyperus rotundus Xiang Fu
3. Heat with irritability and restlessness, combine Gardenia Zhi Zi with Coptis Huang Lian
4. Heat in the Heart with scanty, brown urine, Gardenia Zhi Zi (roasted) with Rhubarb, Forsythia Lian Qiao, Licorice
5. Clear Heat and Toxin in Mouth and Tongue Sores, Gum swelling, Dizziness, Sore Throat: Gardenia Zhi Zi (116 grams), Coptis Huang Lian (4.8 grams), Scutellaria Huang Qin (192 grams), Phellodendron Huang Bai (60 grams), Rhubarb (Da Huang) (116 grams), Lonicera Jin Yin Hua (40 grams), Anemarrhena Zhi Mu (40 grams), Trichosanthes Radix Tian Hua Fen (60 grams) (Chinese Pharmacopoeia)
6. Diarrhea or Leukorrhea from Damp-Heat, Gardenia Zhi Zi with Ailanthus, Phellodendron Huang Bai, Plantain seed (Che Qian Zi)
7. Liver heat, Gardenia Zhi Zi with Gentiana Long Dan Cao Bupleurum Chai Hu
8. Gall Bladder inflammation or obstruction, Gardenia Zhi Zi with Curcuma Yu Jin and Artemisia Yin Chen Hao
9. Jaundice:
i. Gardenia Zhi Zi with Artemisia Yin Chen Hao and Rhubarb
ii. Gardenia Zhi Zi with Artemisia Yin Chen Hao and Licorice (Su Song)
10. Painful, dribbling urine, Plantain seed with Gardenia Zhi Zi (TCM)
11. Externally for Sprains:
i. powdered Gardenia Zhi Zi with Myrrh, Frankincense mixed with vinegar and applied
ii. powdered Gardenia Zhi Zi with Egg White, Wheat flour and alcohol (vodka or rice spirit) (The Formulas of Dr. John H.F. Shen)

Major Formulas:
An Gong Niu Huang Wan
Dang Gui Long Hui Wan
Dan Zhi Xiao Yan San (Jia Wei Xiao Yao San)
Fang Feng Tong Sheng San
Huang Lian Jie Du Tang
Ke Xue Fang
Long Dan Xie Gan Tang
Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin

Cautions:
1. Not suitable for Cold and weak digestion

Main Preparations used: