Pharmaceutical Name:

Fructus Tsaoko

Botanical Name:

Amomum tsao-kko Crevost et Lemaire

Common Name:

Tsaoko
Amomum Seed

Source of Earliest Record:

Yinshan Zhenyao

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The ripe fruit is gathered in autumn and dried in the sun.  The seeds are collected after the carbonized fruit is broken into pieces.

Properties and Taste:

Pungent and warm

Meridian:

Spleen and stomach

Functions:

To dry dampness and warm spleen and stomach
To relieve malaria

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Cold-damp blocking and stagnating spleen and stomach manifested as epigastric and abdominal distension and fullness, cold pain, vomiting and diarrhea.
*Use with Magnolia bark (Houpo), Atractylodes rhizome (Cangzhu) and Pinellia tuber (Banxia).

2.      Malaria.
*Use with Dichroa root (Changshan) and Bupleurum root (Chaihu).

Dosage:

3-6 g