Pharmaceutical Name:

Fructus Mume

Botanical Name:

Prunus Mume (Sieb.) Sieb. Et Zucc.

Common Name:

Black plum
Mume

Source of Earliest Record:

Shennong Bencao Jing

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The unripe fruit is gathered in the period at the Beginning of Summer (Seventh solar term). It is baked at a low temperature until the skins turn black. The plum stone is removed.

Properties and Taste:

Sour and neutral

Meridians:

Spleen, lung and large intestine

Functions:

To astringe the lungs and stop cough
To restrain the intestines and stop diarrhea
To promote the production of body fluids
To expel roundworms

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Chronic cough due to deficiency of the lungs.
*Use with Poppy capsule (Yingsuqiao), Donkey hide gelatin (Ejiao) and Apricot seed (Xingren).

2.     Chronic diarrhea or dysentery.
*Use with Nutmeg (Roudoukou), Chebula fruit (Hezi) and Poppy capsule (Yingsuqiao).

3.      Acute dysentery.
*Use with Coptis root (Huanglian).

4.      Diabetes.
*Use with Trichosanthes root (Tianhuafen), Ophiopogon root (Maidong), Ginseng (Renshen) and Pueraria root (Gegen).

5.     Roundworms in biliary tract manifested as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.
*Use with Asarum herb (Xixin) and Coptis root (Huanglian) in the formula Wumei Wan.

Dosage:

3-30 g

Cautions:

This herb is contraindicated in cases with exterior syndrome or accumulation of excessive heat in the interior.