It is the mature seed of the plant Cochinchina Momordica Seed from the Bottle Gourd Peel family. It grows on hillsides, forest edges, and places with relatively deep soil layers. The fruits are harvested when they mature from September to November. The fruits are then cut open and dried until semi-dry, after which the seeds are peeled off. Alternatively, the fruits can be placed in a basin or bowl, and when the peel is nearly decayed, it is mashed and washed with clean water to remove the pulp and outer membrane, leaving the seeds to be dried or baked. It is distributed in Guangxi, Sichuan, Hubei, Henan, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Yunnan, and other regions. It is also cultivated.

The root of this plant (Mubie Root) is also used for medicinal purposes.

bubble_chart Morphological Characteristics

Perennial herbaceous vine with enlarged tuberous roots. Stems have longitudinal ridges; tendrils are stout, opposite to the leaves, single, unbranched. Leaves are alternate, round to broadly ovate, 7-14 cm long, usually shallowly or deeply 3-lobed, lobes slightly ovate or long-ovate, entire or slightly toothed, base nearly cordate, apex acute, upper surface smooth, lower surface densely covered with small papillae, 3-palmate reticulate veins; petioles 5-10 cm long, with longitudinal ridges, bearing 2-5 glands at the middle or near the leaf blade.

Flowering period from June to August. Flowers are unisexual, monoecious, solitary in leaf axils, pedicels slender, each flower with a large bract, yellowish-green; male flowers: sepals 5, leathery, rough, ovate-lanceolate, base connate, petals 5, pale yellow, base connate, stamens 5, fused into 3 bodies; female flowers: sepals linear-lanceolate, corolla similar to male flowers, ovary inferior. Fruit is an elliptical pepo, red when mature, fleshy, covered with soft spines.

Fruiting period from September to November. Seeds are slightly flattened disc-shaped, slightly raised in the middle, about 2-3 cm in diameter, about 5 mm thick. Surface is gray-brown or gray-black, rough, with depressed reticulate patterns, with a dozen or so opposite serrated protrusions on both sides. Outer seed coat is hard and brittle, inner seed coat is thin and membranous, surface gray-green, tomentose, containing two large, thick cotyledons, yellowish-white, oily, with a special greasy smell, bitter in taste. Seeds that are plump, unbroken, heavy, with yellowish-white kernels and not oily are considered the best.

Bitter and slightly sweet, warm, toxic.

1. Kaibao Bencao: sweet, warm, nontoxic.
2. Gangmu: bitter and slightly sweet, slightly toxic.

act on liver, spleen and stomach channels.

1. Depei Bencao: act on hand yangming channel.
2. Bencao Zaixin: act on spleen and kidney channels.
3. " summary of materia medica": act on foot jueyin channel.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Subduing swelling and dissipating bind, detoxifying.

bubble_chart Indications

Treats carbuncles, boils and sores, scrofula, hemorrhoids, innominate swelling pain, tinea sores, wind-dampness arthralgia, and muscle spasms.

1. Rihuazi Bencao: Vinegar is used to reduce swelling and detoxify.
2. Kaibao Bencao: Mainly treats fractures, reduces swelling and malignant sores, promotes muscle growth, relieves lumbago, eliminates acne and dark spots, treats acute mastitis in women, and anal swelling and pain.
3. Gangmu: Treats infantile malnutrition with accumulation and stuffiness, benefits the large intestine, treats diarrhea and dysentery, hemorrhoids, and scrofula.
4. Bencao Beiyao: Drains heat, externally used to treat sores. Benefits the large intestine, treats diarrhea and dysentery, infantile malnutrition with accumulation, scrofula sores and hemorrhoids, acute mastitis, and clam poisoning. Reduces swelling and expels toxins, promotes muscle growth and eliminates dark spots.
5. Bencao Qiuyuan: Treats all cold-dampness stagnation heat causing pain, wind paralysis, migratory impediment, itching and syncope, beriberi, spasms, and crane's knee.

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

For external use: Grind into powder and apply, grind into juice and apply, or decoct and use for fumigation and washing. For internal use: Mostly used in pills or powders; decoct and take 2-4 fen.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

Pregnant women and those with a weak constitution should avoid taking it.

1. Bencao Huiyan: "Those with stomach deficiency, large intestine not solid, and primordial qi deficiency should not take it indiscriminately."
2. Yilin Zuanyao Tanyuan: "Avoid pork."

bubble_chart Processing and Storage

Remove impurities, wash clean, dry in the sun, crush with the shell when used, or remove the shell to take the kernel.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

TCM can effectively treat dry eye syndrome, floaters, retinopathy, and various chronic eye diseases

bubble_chart Modern Application

For external treatment of psoriasis, psoriasis, and tinea capitis, it has a certain effect. Usage: Remove the shell of cochinchina momordica seed, dip it in vinegar, and grind it on a coarse porcelain surface (such as the bottom of a bowl) to extract the medicinal juice. Before bedtime, use cotton or a brush to apply the juice to the affected area, once daily or every other day. Before applying the medicine, wash the affected area with salt water; for tinea that has spread all over the body, treat in stages and sections. Generally, 1 qian of cochinchina momordica seed kernel requires about 10 milliliters of vinegar for grinding, and the resulting medicinal juice can be applied to 5-7 areas of tinea measuring 3×2 centimeters each.

bubble_chart Selected Prescriptions

1. To treat all kinds of toxins, red swelling and red halo that do not subside: Cochinchina momordica seed (shelled) two taels, Kusnezoff monkshood root half tael, small powder four taels, Pinellia two taels. The above four ingredients are stir-fried in an iron pan over slow fire until brown, until black. Grind finely, mix with freshly drawn water, and apply once a day, spreading from the outside inward, leaving the top of the sore to allow the toxic gas to escape. (Yizong Jinjian Black Dragon Ointment)
2. To treat sore and ulcer, boil and sore at the initial stage, scrofula, chronic shank ulcer, and children's head sores: Cochinchina momordica seed (shelled) five pieces, white tender rosin (cleaned) four taels, copper green finely ground one qian, frankincense, myrrh each two qian, castor bean (shelled) seven qian, Croton Fruit meat five grains, Bitter Apricot Seed (peeled) one qian. The above eight ingredients are combined and pounded in a stone mortar over three thousand times to form an ointment; then, it is immersed in cold water. When used, according to the size of the sore, it is rubbed into thin slices by hand and applied to the sore, covered with silk. (Yizong Jinjian Miraculous Thousand Pounding Ointment)
3. To treat sudden swelling, heat, and pain in both ears: Cochinchina momordica seed kernel one tael (ground into paste), Rice Bean powder half tael, Sichuan Rhubarb Rhizoma powder half tael. The above ingredients are ground together evenly, mixed with water and raw oil, and applied. (Shenghui Fang)
4. To treat scrofula that recurs without end, pus and blood stranguria: Two kernels of Cochinchina momordica seed, wiped with thick paper to remove oil, crushed, mixed with black egg, and placed in a porcelain cup, steamed until hot. Take once a day after meals for half a month. (Renzhai Zhizhi Fang Cochinchina Momordica Seed Ointment)
5. To treat hemorrhoids: Schizonepeta, Cochinchina momordica seed, mirabilite each in equal parts. The above are decocted into a soup, placed in a bottle, fumigated, and then washed with warm soup. (Puji Fang)
6. To treat children's red tumors: Fresh Cochinchina momordica seed, shelled, ground into paste, mixed with light vinegar, and applied three to five times a day. (Waike Jingyi)
7. To treat trichiasis, wind-heat sore (pityriasis rosea), also rotten: Cochinchina momordica seed kernel is pounded into paste, wrapped in silk cloth to make a strip, inserted into the right nostril for left side affliction, and vice versa; then take Cicada Slough medicine for best effect. ("Sun Tianren Collection of Effective Prescriptions")
8. To treat severe pain from hernia and unilateral testicular swelling: One Cochinchina momordica seed ground with vinegar, mixed with Phellodendron and Hibiscus powder, and applied. ("Shouyu Shen Fang")
9. To treat swelling and pain from beriberi, kidney wind qi, attacking the lower part causing sores and itching: Gansui Root half tael, Cochinchina momordica seed kernel four pieces. Ground into powder, one pig kidney, peeled and sliced, mixed with four qian of the medicine, wrapped in wet paper, roasted until cooked, eaten on an empty stomach, followed by rice. After taking, stretch both feet, after bowel movement, eat white porridge for two to three days. (Benshi Fang)
10. To treat swelling and pain from beriberi: Cochinchina momordica seed kernel, each split into two, stir-fried with bran, sliced and stir-fried again, until the oil is completely removed, each tael mixed with half tael of thick cinnamon, ground into powder, taken with hot wine two qian, until drunk and sweating. (Yonglei Qianfang)
11. To treat stuffiness and ringworm: Cochinchina momordica seed (shelled) in large quantity, single garlic half qian, Realgar half qian. The above are pounded into paste, mixed with a little vinegar, applied with wax paper to the affected area. ("Xiji Fang" Cochinchina Momordica Seed Ointment)
12. To treat malaria with splenomegaly: Cochinchina momordica seed, Pangolin Scales (roasted) in equal parts. Ground into powder, take three qian each time, on an empty stomach with warm wine. ("Medical Prescription Summary")
13. To treat meridians and collaterals affected by wind-cold pathogenic qi, tendons and vessels pulled, skin pain, forming hard lumps, cramps and numbness: Cochinchina momordica seed one tael (peeled, chopped into small bean size, soaked in two taels of clear oil overnight, then slow fire cooked until half, remove Cochinchina momordica seed, add one qian of yellow vinegar, stir evenly, wait until vinegar dissolves, filter through silk to remove residue), frankincense one qian (separately ground finely, when Cochinchina momordica seed oil and wax are about to solidify, quickly add to the oil, stir continuously until even). Store in a porcelain container, use a little each time, rub on painful and hard areas of muscles and skin, continuously, until very hot. (Bai Yi Xuanfang Cochinchina Momordica Seed Ointment)
14. To treat injuries from falls, static blood not dispersing and pain: Cochinchina momordica seed (shelled and ground) half tael, cinnamon (coarse skin removed) three fen, rapeseed (soaked in wine and ground) two ge, clove fifty grains. The above four ingredients, grind clove and cinnamon into powder, mix with the other two ground ingredients evenly, then use ginger juice to cook rice porridge, spread on paper, sprinkle the powder on the porridge according to the amount, wrap according to cold or hot, change once a day. (Shengji Zonglu Cochinchina Momordica Seed Wrap)
15. To treat children's malnutrition: Cochinchina momordica seed kernel, Quisqualis Fruit kernel in equal parts. Pounded into paste, made into pills the size of Indian mustard seeds with rice water, take five fen each time, with rice water, twice a day. ("Sun Tianren Collection of Effective Prescriptions")
16. For treating infantile malnutrition with blurred vision: Take two qian of cochinchina momordica seed and one qian of Neopicrorhiza. Grind them into powder, mix with rice flour and water paste to form pills the size of longan. Place the pills inside an egg, steam until cooked, and consume with the egg. ("Sun Tianren's Collection of Effective Prescriptions")
17. For treating prolonged diarrhea in children and rectal prolapse: Aquilaria 2 qian, Submature Bitter Orange half a liang (stir-fried with bran, remove pulp), Trogopterus Dung half a liang (lightly fried), Cochinchina Momordica Seed (weighed with shell) half a liang (remove shell and use). Grind the first three ingredients into fine powder, then add Cochinchina Momordica Seed and grind finely. Cook with vinegar to make a paste and form into pills the size of millet grains. For a three-year-old child, take 30 pills each time, taken with vinegar and clear tea before breastfeeding or eating. ("Yang's Family Collection of Prescriptions" Cochinchina Momordica Seed Pill)