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| Latin: |
Fructus Amomi |
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| Origin: |
Amomum fruit is the dried ripe fruit of the perennial plant Amomum villosum Lour. (villous amomum), Amomum longili gulare T. L. Wu (Hainan amomum), or Amomum villosum Lour. var. xanthioides (Wall. ex Bak.) T. L. Wu & Senjen (cocklebur-like Amomum), of the Zingiberaceae, or ginger family.
The majority species of the Zingiberaceae family are shade plants of the rain forest of evergreen tropical regions, although some grow mainly on forest margins, in clearings, or on riverbanks. Within a single genus (e.g., Musa, Costus) some species may grow only in shade while others grow in more open places.
All members of the family Zingiberaceae have brightly coloured flowers and slender flower tubes full of nectar. They are probably mostly pollinated by butterflies. Flowers are, in all cases, short-lived, often lasting only a few hours.
In almost all members of the order, the long leaf sheaths overlap, so that the true stem bearing them is not exposed. The stem is slender and lacks firm tissues, the leaf sheaths (the inner ones of which are very long) providing the necessary rigidity. As a consequence, the only fully exposed stems occur where the flowering stalk projects above the false stem of leaf sheaths.
In some species of Amomum, moisture may be provided by the rotting of main bracts so that fruits develop in a mass of black putrescence maintained in a wet state by frequent rains.
In China, villous amomum is mainly produced in the provinces Guangdong, Guangxi and other parts of China; Hainan amomum is mainly produced in Guangdong, Hainan Island and Zhanjiang Prefecture; cocklebur-like amomum is produced in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, etc. Of these, villous amomum is of the best quality.
The herb is harvested in summer and autumn when the fruit ripens. It is dried in the sun or in low heat and pounded for use when raw. |
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| Properties: |
| Pungent in flavor, warm in nature, it is related to the spleen and stomach channels. |
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| Functions: |
| Removes dampness, promotes the flow of qi, warms the spleen and stomach, arrests vomiting and diarrhea and prevents miscarriage. |
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| Applications: |
1. To treat syndromes of disturbance of the spleen due to dampness and stagnation of qi in the spleen and stomach:
This herb is often used together with official magnolia bark, dried tangerine peel, immature citron or trifoliate orange (Fructus Aurantii Immaturus), etc.
2. To treat vomiting and diarrhea due to insufficiency of spleen-yang:
This herb can be ground alone into powder for swallowing or used together with such herbs as dried ginger, monkshood root (Radix Aconiti praeparata), etc.
3. To treat pernicious vomiting during pregnancy and threatened abortion due to stagnation of qi:
a) Failure to eat due to vomiting and regurgitation during pregnancy:
This herb is parched alone until cooked and ground into powder for oral administration, e.g., Suosha San in the book 'Standards of Diagnosis and Treatment'.
b) Threatened abortion:
It can be used in combination with ginseng, milk vetch root (Radix Astragali seu Hedysari), largehead atractylodes rhizome (Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae), etc., e.g., Taishan Panshi San. |
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| Dosage and Administration: |
3-6 g.
Decoct amomum fruit for oral administration. |
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| Cautions on Use: |
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| Reference Materials: |
On Properties of Herbs : "Treating abdominal pain due to cold-qi, recurrent dysentery due to stagnation of qi and internal injuries caused by overstrain by eliminating undigested food and warming the spleen and stomach."
Kai Bao Materia Medica : "Cold dysentery due to consumption, indigestion, dysentery with blood and mucus, lumps in the abdomen and flatulence." |
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| Toxic or Side Effects: |
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| Modern Researches: |
Villous amomum contains an essential oil (volatile oil) with gum camphor, borneol, limonene, nerolidol and saponins as its main ingredients. Cocklebur-like amomum contains a volatile oil with camphor, a terpene, etc., as its main ingredients.
For self protection, the outer skin (bark) of many plants contains essential oil, which in turn has elements that serve as an immediate chemical defense against herbivores and pathogens. How? There is an element called hydroxynitrile glucoside in essential oil. This element will release toxic hydrogen cyanide by endogenous plant glucosidase upon tissue disruption (see Anne Vinther Morant, Kirsten Jorgensen, Charlotte Jorgensen, Suzanne Michelle Paquette, Raquel Sanchez-Perez, Birger Lindberg Moller, and Soren Bak, "beta-Glucosidases as Detonators of Plant Chemical Defense," Phytochemistry Vol. 69, Issue 9 (June 2008), pp. 1,795-1,813).
Glucosidase is a catalyzing enzyme that improves healthy functions of our body. It is a lipase that decomposes fat; it can also check inflammation and improve memory (see Mikako Sakurai, Masayuki Sekiguchi, Ko Zushida, Kazuyuki Yamada, Satoshi Nagamine, Tomohiro Kabuta and Keiji Wada, "Reduction in memory in passive avoidance learning, exploratory behaviour and synaptic plasticity in mice with a spontaneous deletion in the ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 gene," European Journal of Neuroscience Vol. 27, Issue 3 (February 2008), pp. 691-701).
Amomum essential oil can also strengthen the stomach with its aromatic property, promote the secretion of gastric juice and remove accumulated qi from the digestive tract, so it can promote the flow of qi and relieve flatulence. |
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