Japanese Thistle (Daji)

Jujube (Dazao)

Pharmaceutical Name: Fructus Jujubae
Botanical Name: Ziziphus Jujuba Mill.
Common Name:Jujube
Chinese date
Source of Earliest Record: Shennong Bencao Jing
art Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations: The ripe fruit is gathered at the beginning of autumn and dried in the sun.
Properties and Taste: Sweet and warm
Meridian: Spleen and stomach
Functions: To replenish qi in the middle jiao (spleen and stomach)
To nourish the blood and soothe the mind
To moderate the action of herbs
Indications and Combinations: 1.     Weakness of the spleen and stomach manifested as lassitude, poor appetite and lose stool.
*Use with Ginseng (Renshen) and White atractylodes (Baizhu).

2. Hysteria manifested as grief, weeping and sighing.
*Use with Licorice root (Gancao) and Light wheat (Fuxiaomai) in the formula Gan Mai Dazao Tang.

3.    Moderating the action of other herbs.
*Use with Peking spurge root (Daji), Kansui root (Gansui) and Genkwa flower (Yuanhua) in the formula Shizao Tang.
Dosage: 3-12 g, or 10-30 g
Cautions: This herb is contraindicated in conditions of excessive dampness, epigastric and abdominal distension and fullness, retention of food, intestinal parasites, pain of decayed teeth and cough due to phlegm-heat.