Pharmaceutical Name:

Fructus Gardeniae

Botanical Name:

Gardenia jaminoides Ellis

Common Name:

Gardenia fruit
Capejasmine fruit 

Source of Earliest Record:

Shennong Bencao Jing

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The fruit is gathered in autumn or winter when it is ripe.  Either the raw herb or the carbonized herb is used.

Properties and Taste:

Bitter and cold

Meridian:

Heart, liver, lung, stomach and triple jiao

Functions:

To clear heat and reduce fire
To cool blood and release toxins
To eliminate dampness

Indications and Combinations:

1.     To clear heat and reduce fire; To cool blood and release toxins; To eliminate dampness.
*Use with Prepared soybean (Douchi), Forsythia fruit (Lianqiao) and Scutellaria root (Huangqin).

2.      Jaundice with fever and dysuria.
*Use with Oriental wormwood (Yinchenhao), Rhubarb (Dahuang) and Phellodendron bark (Huangbai).

3.     Extravasation caused by heat in the blood manifested as vomiting blood, epistaxis and hematuria.
*Use with Imperata rhizome (Baimaogen), Fresh rehmannia root (Shengdihuang) and Scutellaria root (Huangqin).

4.      Boils and carbuncles. 
*Use with Coptis root (Huanglian), Scutellaria (Huangqin) and Honeysuckle flower (Jinyinhua

Dosage:

3-10 g

Cautions:

The herb is contraindicated in cases with weakness of the spleen and diarrhea.