This product is the mature fruit of the evergreen tree plant Ligustrum lucidum (Ligustrum lucidum Ait.) from the Oleaceae family. It is mainly produced in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hunan, Fujian, Sichuan, and other regions. The fruit is harvested when it matures in winter, slightly steamed or briefly scalded in boiling water, and then dried. It can be used raw or processed with wine.

Glossy privet fruit (herbal decoction pieces)

Glossy privet fruit (herbal decoction pieces)

bubble_chart Morphological Characteristics

Evergreen large shrub or small tree, up to over 10 meters tall. Bark gray to light gray-brown, branches smooth, with lenticels. Leaves opposite, petiole 1-2 cm long, grooved above; leaf blade leathery, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 5-14 cm long, 3.5-6 cm wide, apex acuminate to acute, base broadly cuneate, margin entire, upper surface dark green and glossy, lower surface pale green, densely covered with small transparent glandular dots, main vein conspicuous.

Flowering period June to July. Inflorescence terminal panicle, 10-15 cm long, 8-17 cm in diameter; peduncle about 4 cm long or absent; bracts leaf-like, linear-lanceolate, sessile, caducous, bracteoles ovate-triangular; pedicels very short or nearly absent; calyx campanulate, about 1.5 mm long, 4-lobed; corolla tube about as long as lobes, lobes 4, oblong-ovate, about 2 mm long, white; stamens 2, inserted at throat of corolla tube, filaments slender, exserted; pistil 1, ovary superior, globose, 2-locular, style cylindrical, stigma shallowly 2-lobed.

Fruiting period August to December. Drupe berry-like, oblong, 6-12 mm long, green when young, blue-black when ripe. Seeds 1-2, oblong. Dried fruit ovoid or ellipsoid, sometimes slightly curved, 5-10 mm long, 3-4 mm in diameter. Exocarp blue-black, wrinkled; both ends obtuse, with fruit stalk scar at base. Texture hard, light in weight, mostly single kernel when cross-sectioned, if double kernel, separated by septum. Kernel elliptical, both ends pointed, outer surface purplish black, inner surface grayish white. Odorless, taste sweet and slightly bitter. The best quality is characterized by large, plump, blue-black, and hard fruits.

Bitter and sweet, neutral.

1. Benjing: bitter, neutral.
2. Bielu: sweet, nontoxic.

1. Bencao Jingshu: act on foot shaoyin channel.
2. Bencao Zaixin: act on liver, lung and kidney channels.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Nourishing the liver and kidney yin, strengthening the waist and knees, and darkening the beard to improve vision.

bubble_chart Indications

Liver-kidney yin deficiency manifests as blurred vision, decreased visual acuity, premature graying of hair, soreness in the lower back, tinnitus, and yin deficiency with internal heat. It can nourish the yin of the liver and kidneys, but the medicinal effects are mild and require gradual results.

1. To treat blurred vision, it is often combined with Prepared Rehmannia Root, Dodder Seed, Barbary Wolfberry Fruit, and others; to treat premature graying of hair, it is often combined with Yerba-Detajo Herb, mulberry fruit, and others;
2. to treat yin-deficiency fever, it is often combined with Chinese Wolfberry Root-bark, Unprocessed Rehmannia Root, and others.

   bubble_chart Documentation

   1. Benjing: "Tonifies the center, calms the five zang-organs, nourishes the spirit, and eliminates all diseases. Long-term use promotes plumpness and health."
   2. Bencao Mengquan: "Blackens hair and beard, strengthens tendons and enhances strength. Frequent use tonifies blood and dispels wind."
   3. Gangmu: "Strengthens yin, fortifies the waist and knees, and improves vision."
   4. Bencao Jingshu: "Cools blood and benefits blood."
   5. Bencao Zheng: "Nourishes yin qi, balances yin fire, relieves vexing heat and steaming bone fever, stops spontaneous sweating, consumptive thirst, strangury and turbidity, menorrhagia and metrostaxis, bloody stool, hematuria, pudendal sores, and hemorrhoidal fistula pain. Also clears liver heat, improves vision, and stops tearing."
   6. Bencao Zaixin: "Nourishes yin and benefits the kidneys, tonifies qi and soothes the liver. Treats pain in the waist and legs, regulates menstruation, and harmonizes blood."
   7. 《Guangxi Chinese Materia Medica》: "Treats constipation of deficiency type in the elderly."
   8. Bencao Beiyao: "Benefits the liver and kidneys, calms the five zang-organs, strengthens the waist and knees, brightens the eyes and ears, blackens the beard and hair, supplements wind deficiency, and eliminates all diseases."

   bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

   For internal use: decoct in water, 1.5-3 qian; prepare into a paste or make into pills. For external use: prepare into a paste and apply to the eyes.

   bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

   Deficiency-cold of spleen and stomach diarrhea and yang deficiency should avoid taking.

   1. Bencao Jingshu: It should be combined with spleen and stomach tonics and warm substances like Zanthoxylum bungeanum, otherwise there may be risks of abdominal pain and diarrhea.

   bubble_chart Processing and Storage

   Glossy privet fruit: Remove impurities, wash clean, and dry in the sun.

   Wine glossy privet fruit: Take clean glossy privet fruit, mix evenly with yellow wine, place in a jar or suitable container, seal tightly, and steam in a water bath until the wine is fully absorbed. Then remove and dry (for every 100 jin of glossy privet fruit, use 20 jin of yellow wine).

   1. Depei Bencao: "Wash the glossy privet fruit to remove the skin, mix with wine and steam, then dry in the sun. It can also be stir-fried with light salt water."

   bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

   Contains glossy privet fruit glycosides (nuzhenide), olive glycosides (oleuropein), oleanolic acid, 4-hydroxy-B-phenylethyl-B-D-glucoside, betulin, etc.

   1. Enhances immune function, increases peripheral white blood cells, enhances the phagocytic ability of the reticuloendothelial system, and boosts cellular and humoral immunity; has a leukocyte-increasing effect on leukopenia caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy;
   2. has cardiotonic, diuretic, and hepatoprotective effects;
   3. and also has antitussive, mild laxative, antibacterial, and anticancer effects.

   bubble_chart Selected Prescriptions

   1. Tonify the waist and knees, strengthen the tendons and bones, invigorate the yin kidneys, and darken the beard and hair: glossy privet fruit (harvested on the Winter Solstice (22nd solar term), any amount, dried in the shade, mixed with honey and wine, steamed, left overnight, rubbed with a coarse bag to remove the skin, dried in the sun, ground into powder, stored in a clay jar, or first dried, then mixed with Yerbadetajo Herb (harvested on the Summer Solstice (10th solar term), any amount), pounded into juice and boiled into a paste, combined with the previous medicine to form pills, taken with wine before bed. (Yifang Jijie Two-Solstice Pill)
   2. Treat neurasthenia: glossy privet fruit, yerbadetajo herb, mulberry fruit, each 5 qian to 1 liang. Decocted with water and taken. Or 2 jin of glossy privet fruit, soaked in 2 jin of rice wine, taken in moderation daily. ("Common Herbal Remedies of Zhejiang")
   3. Treat wind-heat red eyes: glossy privet fruit, any amount, pounded into juice and boiled into a paste, stored in a clean bottle and buried in the ground for seven days, used to apply to the eyes. ("Ji Ji Xian Fang")
   4. Treat optic neuritis: glossy privet fruit, feather cockscomb seed, feather cockscomb seed, each 1 liang. Decocted with water and taken. ("Common Herbal Remedies of Zhejiang")
   5. Treat scrofula, subcutaneous node, tidal fever, etc.: glossy privet fruit 3 qian, Chinese Wolfberry Root-bark 2 qian, Sweet Wormwood 1.5 qian, Prunella 2.5 qian, decocted with water, taken in three doses daily. ("Modern Practical Chinese Medicinals")
   6. Treat kidney dryness-heat, painful urination, weak waist and legs, long-term lower consumptive thirst: glossy privet fruit 4 qian, Unprocessed Rehmannia Root 6 qian, Tortoise Carapace 6 qian, Chinese Angelica, Poria, Dendrobium, Mongolian Snakegourd Root, Hypoglaucous Yam, Achyranthes Root, Plantain Seed, each 2 qian, 3 large mussels. Decocted with water and taken. ("Yi Chun Sheng Yi" Nü Zhen Tang)
   7. Tonify the kidneys and enrich yin. Take glossy privet fruit, remove stems and leaves, soak in wine for a day and night, rub off the skin, dry in the sun, grind into powder, wait for Yerbadetajo Herb to appear, harvest several stones, pound into juice and boil into a thick paste, mix with the powder to form pills, the size of a wu zi. Take 100 pills each night with wine. After more than ten days, physical strength increases, and the elderly no longer get up at night. It can also turn white hair black, strengthen the waist and knees, and invigorate yin qi. Another recipe: use glossy privet fruit harvested in early winter and dried, soaked in wine for a day, steamed thoroughly and dried in the sun, take 1 jin 4 liang; Yerbadetajo Herb harvested in summer and dried in the shade, take 10 liang; mulberry fruit harvested in late spring and dried in the shade, take 10 liang. Grind the three ingredients into powder, add refined honey to form pills the size of a wu zi. Take 7-8 pills each time with light salt water. If mulberry fruit is harvested in May and Yerbadetajo Herb in August, they can be pounded into juice and mixed with the medicine directly, without adding honey.
   8. Wind-heat red eyes. Use glossy privet fruit, any amount, pounded into juice and boiled into a paste, stored in a clean bottle and buried in the ground for seven days, then used to apply to the eyes.
   9. Mouth and tongue sores, swollen tongue. Take glossy privet leaves, pound into juice, soak and spit out saliva.
   10. All eye diseases, use glossy privet leaves, pound into a paste, mix with mirabilite, and apply to the eyes.