Pharmaceutical Name:

Fructus Citri

Botanical Name:

Citrus medica L.
Citrus wilsonii Tanaka

Common Name:

Citron fruit

Source of Earliest Record:

Bencao Tujing

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The ripe fruit is gathered in October, cleaned, dried in the sun and cut into slices.

Properties and Taste:

Pungent, slightly bitter, sour and warm

Meridian:

Liver, spleen and lung

Functions:

To promote the free flow of Qi in the liver
To harmonize the spleen and stomach and resolve phlegm.

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Qi stagnation in the liver manifested as costal pain and stifling sensation in the chest.
*Use with Curcuma root (Yujin), Finger citron (Foshou) and Cyperus tuber (Xiangfu).

2.      Qi stagnation in the spleen and stomach manifested as epigastric and abdominal distension and pain, nausea, vomiting, poor appetite and belching.
*Use with Costus root (Muxiang), Finger citron (Foshou), Bitter orange (Zhiqiao) and Tangerine peel (Chenpi).

3.      Cough with profuse sputum
*Use with Pinellia tuber (Banxia) and Poria (Fuling).

Dosage:

3-10 g