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| Latin: |
Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae Viride |
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| Origin: |
Green tangerine peel is the peel of the young fruit or immature fruit of Citrus reticulata Blanco or its cultivated variant, belonging to the mandarin orange species of the family Rutaceae, with the same origins as those of Tangerine Peel.
Green tangerine peel is reaped between May to June or July to August. Collect young fruits which drop for themselves in May to June and dry the peel in the sun or pick and reap immature fruits in July to August, split each peel longitudinally into four petals down near to the base and dry in the sun for use when raw or after being fried. |
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| Properties: |
| Bitter and pungent in flavor, warm in nature, it is related to the liver, gall-bladder and stomach channels. |
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| Functions: |
| Soothes the liver, regulates the flow of qi and promotes digestion to remove stagnated food. |
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| Applications: |
1. To treat syndromes of the stagnation of liver-qi:
a) Distending pain in the chest and hypochondria due to the stagnation of liver-qi:
Green tangerine peel can be used together with Chinese thorowax root (Radix Bupleuri), aromatic turmeric root-tuber (Radix Curcumae), nutgrass flatsedge rhizome (Rhizoma Cyperi), etc.
b) Distending pain or mass of the breasts:
Green tangerine peel can be used together with Chinese thorowax root (Radix Bupleuri), thunberg fritillary bulb (Bulbus Fritillariae Thunbergii), tangerine leaves, etc.
c) Acute mastitis (inflammation of the breast):
Green tangerine peel can be used in combination with Mongolian snakegourd (Fructus Trichosanthis), honeysuckle flower (Flos Lonicerae), dandelion (Herba Taraxaci), etc.
d) Cold hernial pain:
Green tangerine peel is mostly used together with three-nerved spicebush root (Radix Linderae), fennel (Fructus Foeniculi), aucklandia root, etc., e.g., Tiantai Wuyao San.
2. To treat abdominal pain due to food stagnancy:
a) Distending pain in the abdomen due to accumulation of food and stagnation of qi:
Green tangerine peel is often used together with hawthorn, medicated leaven, malt, etc., in order to enhance the effects of promoting digestion to remove stagnated food, e.g., Qingpi Wan in the book 'Shen's Works on the Importance of Life Preservation'.
b) Distending pain in the abdomen due to serious stagnation of qi:
Green tangerine peel can be used together with aucklandia root, betel nuts or immature citron or trifoliate orange (Fructus Aurantii Immaturus), rhubarb (Radix et Rhizoma Rhei), etc.
3. To treat masses in the abdomen and hypochondriac lumps due to chronic malaria as a result of qi-stagnation and blood stasis:
Green tangerine peel is mostly used together with burreed rhizome (Rhizoma Sparganii), zedoary turmeric (Rhizoma Zedoariae), salvia red root (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae), etc. |
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| Dosage and Administration: |
3-10 g.
Decoct green tangerine peel for oral administration. It is very powerful in soothing the liver and killing pain if fried with vinegar. |
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| Cautions on Use: |
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| Reference Materials: |
Illustrated Classic of Materia Medica : "To treat syndromes of stagnation of qi by promoting digestion, removing stagnated food and dissipating stagnation of qi in the hypochondriac region."
The Compendium of Materia Medica : "Reverse flow of qi in the chest and hypochondria, chest pain, hernial pain in the lower abdomen and acute mastitis."
"Soothing the liver and gallbladder and purging the lungs of stagnated qi." |
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| Toxic or Side Effects: |
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| Modern Researches: |
Green tangerine peel contains similar main ingredients to those of tangerine peel, but it contains more synephrine than the latter.
With a mild stimulative effect on the gastrointestinal tract, the essential oil (volatile oil) contained in this herb can promote the secretion of digestive juice and discharge stagnated qi in the intestines. Its decoction can inhibit the smooth muscle of the intestinal canal to achieve a stronger antispasmodic effect than dried tangerine peel. Green tangerine peel can diastolize the smooth muscle of the gallbladder to produce a cholagogic effect. Its essential oil has expectorant and antiasthmatic effects. Its intravenous can raise blood pressure remarkably and has an obvious positive action on the excitability, contractility, conductivity and automaticity of the cardiac muscle.
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). |
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