This product is derived from the young fruit of the evergreen small tree plant Citrus aurantium (Citrus aurantium L.) and its cultivated varieties, or Citrus sinensis (Citrus sinensis Osbeck), primarily produced in Sichuan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Jiangsu, and other regions. The fruits that naturally fall are collected between May and June, cut in half horizontally from the middle, and then sun-dried or dried at low temperatures. When used, they are washed, thoroughly soaked, sliced thinly, and dried. They can be used raw or stir-fried with bran.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Bitter and acrid, slightly cold. Act on spleen, stomach and large intestine meridians.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Dispel qi stagnation, relieve stuffiness, resolve phlegm, and slightly reduce accumulation.

bubble_chart Indications

1. It is used for food accumulation syndrome/pattern, gastrointestinal heat accumulation qi stagnation syndrome/pattern. This product is pungent and bitter in nature, good at breaking qi and removing stuffiness, eliminating accumulation, and guiding stagnation. It is used to treat food accumulation stagnation, epigastric stuffiness and fullness with distending pain, often combined with hawthorn fruit, Germinated Barley, Medicated Leaven, etc. For heat accumulation constipation, abdominal stuffiness with distending pain, it is often combined with Rhubarb Rhizoma, Mirabilite, Magnolia Bark, etc., such as Major Purgative Decoction. For dampness-heat diarrhea and dysentery with tenesmus, it is often combined with Skullcap Root, Coptis Rhizome, such as Immature Orange Fruit Stagnation-Removing Pill.
2. It is used for phlegm stagnation in the chest and gastric stuffiness, chest impediment, and thoracic accumulation. This product can regulate qi and resolve phlegm to eliminate stuffiness, break qi and remove fullness to relieve pain. For chest yang deficiency with phlegm obstruction and chest impediment, it is often combined with Longstamen Onion Bulb, Cinnamon Twig, Trichosanthis Fruit, etc., such as Immature Orange Fruit, Longstamen Onion Bulb, and Cinnamon Twig Decoction. Modern use includes treating coronary heart disease with colicky pain, showing certain efficacy. For phlegm heat accumulation in the chest, it can be combined with Coptis Rhizome, Trichosanthis Fruit, Pinellia, such as Wenbing Tiaobian- Minor Chest-Draining Decoction with Immature Orange Fruit. For epigastric stuffiness and fullness, poor appetite, it can be combined with Pinellia and Magnolia Bark, such as Immature Orange Fruit Fullness-Eliminating Pill.
3. Additionally, this product can also be used to treat gastric dilation, gastroptosis, prolapse of the uterus, prolapse of the rectum, and other organ prolapse conditions, often combined with qi-tonifying and yang-raising herbs to enhance efficacy.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing: "It governs wind in the skin, causing numbness and itching like beans, eliminates cold heat accumulation, stops dysentery, promotes muscle growth, benefits the five zang-organs, tonifies qi, and lightens the body."
2. Bielu: "It removes phlegm and stagnation in the chest and ribs, expels retained water, breaks up hard masses, relieves distension and fullness, epigastric distress and stuffiness, pain, counterflow qi, rib-side wind pain, calms stomach qi, stops sloppy diarrhea, and improves vision."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct and take 8-10g, up to 30g in large doses. After stir-frying, its properties become milder.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

Use with caution during pregnancy.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

The peel of immature oranges contains volatile oils and flavonoids (mainly hesperidin, neohesperidin, naringin, rhofolin, and honeysuckle flower glycosides), N-methyltyramine, and synephrine.

• Immature Orange Fruit can alleviate spasms of the small intestine caused by acetylcholine or barium chloride.
• Administering a decoction of Immature Orange Fruit or Submature Bitter Orange to dogs with gastric or intestinal fistulas can increase the rhythmic contractions of gastric fluid.
• A decoction of Immature Orange Fruit or Submature Bitter Orange inhibits the isolated uterus of both pregnant and non-pregnant mice, while it has an excitatory effect on the isolated and in situ uterus of pregnant and non-pregnant rabbits.
• Intravenous injection of a decoction or tincture of Immature Orange Fruit or Submature Bitter Orange has a cardiotonic effect on the isolated hearts of animals.
• Intravenous injection of Immature Orange Fruit extract increases coronary, cerebral, and renal blood flow while reducing cerebral and renal vascular resistance.
• Intravenous injection of a decoction of Immature Orange Fruit or Submature Bitter Orange, as well as an ethanol extract of Submature Bitter Orange, has a significant hypertensive effect on anesthetized dogs and rabbits.
• Immature Orange Fruit can cause gallbladder contraction and increase the tension of the sphincter of Oddi.
• It exhibits strong anti-allergic activity.
• Immature Orange Fruit and Submature Bitter Orange have the effect of inhibiting thrombus formation.

bubble_chart Supplementary Medicinals

Submature Bitter Orange: The nearly mature fruit (with pulp removed) of the small tree plant Citrus aurantium and its cultivated varieties from the Rutaceae family, used raw or stir-fried with bran. Its nature, flavor, meridian tropism, and functions are the same as those of Immature Orange Fruit, but its effects are milder, excelling in moving qi to relieve distension and fullness in the middle burner. The usage and dosage are the same as those of Immature Orange Fruit.