watermelon

watermelon

(daily use materia medica)

[synonym] cold gourd (Tao Hongjing), born white tiger soup (Wang Ying's food materia medica).

[source] the flesh of watermelon, a Cucurbitaceae plant.

[plant morphology] watermelon

Annual vine herb. Stolons weakly 2-angled, setose, 5-furcate. Leaves alternate; petiole 3-12 cm long; leaves triangular ovate, broadly ovate, 8-20 cm long, 5-18 cm wide, 3-cleft or nearly 3-cleft, middle lobe longer, both sides of the lobe shorter, lobes again irregular pinnate cleft or 2-pinnate division, both sides are very rough. Flowers unisexual, monoecious, solitary in leaf axils; male flowers 2-2.5 cm in diameter: pedicel thin, villous; calyx united into broad bell shaped, villous; apex 5-lobed, lobes narrowly lanceolate or linear lanceolate; corolla united into funnel-shaped, outer green, villous, upper 5-lobed, lobes ovate oblong or broadly elliptic, apex obtuse; stamens 5, 4 of which united in pairs, 1 The female flower is larger than the male flower, and the calyx and corolla are similar to the male flower; the ovary is inferior, ovate, with more or less pubescent outside, the style is short, and the stigma is 5-lobed. The bottle gourd is nearly round or long elliptic, about 30 cm in diameter, green and light green on the surface, with dark and light stripes. Seeds numerous, flat, slightly ovate. The flowering period is from June to July. The fruit period is from July to October.

It is cultivated all over the country.

The root and leaf (watermelon root and leaf), pericarp (watermelon skin), seed kernel (watermelon seed kernel) and seed coat (watermelon seed shell) of this plant are all used for medicine. See special article for details.

[collection] harvest in summer.

[chemical constituents] watermelon juice contains citrulline, α - amino - β - propionic acid, alanine, α - aminobutyric acid, γ - aminobutyric acid, glutamic acid, arginine, phosphoric acid, malic acid, ethylene glycol, betaine, adenine, fructose, glucose, sucrose, salts (mainly potassium salt), vitamin C, β - carotene, γ - carotene, lycopene, hexahydroplycopene, etc. It also contains volatile components, including acetaldehyde, butyraldehyde, isovaleraldehyde and hexanal.

There are glutamic acid, aspartic acid, arginine, aspartic acid, lysine and alanine in flowers. Female flowers contain more of the first four amino acids than male flowers, but less lysine and alanine.

[pharmacological action] citrulline and arginine in melon meat are said to promote the formation of urea in rat liver and lead to diuresis.

Sweet and cold.

① Daily use materia medica: "it tastes sweet, cold and nontoxic. "

② "Yinshan is about to go," it is sweet, flat and non-toxic. "

③ "Gangmu": "sweet light, cold, non-toxic. "

④ New materia medica: "sweet taste, cool nature. "

[channel tropism] entering heart, stomach and bladder channels.

① Yuluoyaojie: "start with Taiyin lung, foot Taiyang bladder, Foot Yangming stomach meridian. "

② "Seeking truth from Materia Medica" means "entering the heart and stomach. "

③ Yao Yao Fen Ji: "entering the spleen meridian. "

④ New materia medica: "entering the heart, liver and lung meridians. "

Functions and indications: clearing away heat and relieving summer heat, eliminating vexation and thirst, and promoting urination. It is used to treat heat and thirst, excessive heat and fluid injury, adverse urination, throat obstruction, and mouth sore.

① Daily use materia medica: "it can relieve summer heat, relieve thirst, relieve middle and lower Qi, benefit small water and treat blood dysentery. "

② "Yinshan Zhengzheng" says: "it is mainly used to quench thirst, treat upset and detoxify. "

③ "Danxixinfa" says: "for the treatment of aphthous ulcer, drink it slowly with watermelon syrup. "

④ "Diannan Materia Medica": "it can cure all kinds of fever, phlegm gushing and qi stagnation. "

⑤ Wang Ying's food materia medica: "treat throat obstruction. "

[usage and dosage] oral administration: take juice drink.

[should avoid] in the cold and wet people should not take.

[prescription selection] 1. To treat Yang Ming fever, dry and thirsty tongue, or dizzy, sleepless, lazy language: cut open the good red flesh watermelon, take a bowl of juice and drink it slowly. (Ben Cao Hui Yan)

② Treatment of summer and autumn diarrhea, restlessness: watermelon, garlic, watermelon cut three tenths, put in garlic seven petals, with straw paper package seven to nine layers, and then yellow mud full package, with empty bamboo tube into the melon out of gas, charcoal fire dry, grind, boiled water swallow. (compendium of simple prescriptions of herbal medicine)

③ Scald treatment: remove the seeds of the ripe watermelon from July to November, take the juice and seal it in a clean glass bottle for three to four months, and filter it until it smells like sour plum soup. First, wash the scalded part with cold isotonic saline or cold boiled water, then soak the defatted cotton in the clarified watermelon liquid, and apply it to the affected area. It can be changed several times a day. Generally, the first or second degree burns can be cured in one week, and the third degree burns can be cured in two weeks. (Hebei collection of traditional Chinese Medicine)

Chinese PinYin : Xi Gua