Damp-Resolving Herbs
Dou Kou (Round Cardamom Fruit)
Name
Dou Kou (Fructus Amomi Rotundus), recorded in Ming Yi Bie Lu.
Source and quality
Plant
The mature fruit of Amomum kravanh Pierre ex Gagnep. or A. compactum Soland ex Maton, family Zingiberaceae.
Where it is grown
The first is mainly produced in Thailand, Kampuchea and Vietnam, and in Yunnan, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces of China; the second in Indonesia (Java), and in Hainan and Yunnan provinces of China.
Harvest
Collected in autumn when the fruit turns from green to yellow.
Smell and taste
The first is fragrant and pungent, with a cool flavor; the second is slightly fragrant.
Better grade
Large, full, intact and strongly fragrant.
Processing
Dried in the sun; used raw, and broken when used.
Nature and action
Acrid and warm; enters the spleen, stomach and lung channels. Resolves dampness and moves qi, warms the middle burner and arrests vomiting.
When it is used
Qi stagnation with dampness obstructing the spleen and stomach
Dou Kou is aromatic, and is an effective herb for resolving damp turbidity, moving stagnant qi and harmonizing the spleen and stomach. It is often combined with herbs that resolve dampness, move qi and harmonize the stomach, such as Guang Huo Xiang, Chen Pi and Sha Ren.
For qi stagnation of the spleen and stomach from food stagnation it is combined with herbs that move qi and improve appetite, such as Mu Xiang and Sha Ren. For cold-damp excess it is combined with herbs that warm the stomach and dry dampness, such as Gan Jiang, Hou Po and Cang Zhu. For distension in the stomach and abdomen, poor appetite and fatigue from spleen deficiency with qi stagnation, it is combined with herbs that invigorate the spleen and tonify qi, such as Huang Qi, Bai Zhu and Ren Shen.
Early stage of damp-warm disease
It is fragrant, acrid and warm without being drying, and is good at dispersing and resolving dampness from the upper and middle burner. For the early stage of damp-warm disease with stuffiness of the chest and no appetite, it is often combined with herbs that ventilate the lung and drain dampness, such as Xing Ren and Yi Yi Ren in San Ren Tang from Wenbing Tiaobian. Where heat predominates over damp it is combined with herbs that clear heat and drain dampness, such as Huang Qin and Hua Shi.
Vomiting
It moves qi and soothes the middle burner, warms the stomach and arrests vomiting. Its action resembles Sha Ren's, but it is more aromatic and better at arresting vomiting, which makes it especially suited to qi stagnation from damp turbidity obstructing the interior, with stuffiness of the stomach and vomiting. It can be ground into powder and taken alone, or combined with herbs that resolve dampness, warm the middle burner and arrest vomiting, such as Sha Ren, Guang Huo Xiang and Ban Xia.
Dose
Decoction 3~6g, or ground into powder for pills and powder; add it late when decocting.
Sources and further reading
We cite classical materia medica and modern reference works. This article is health education, not medical advice.
- Shennong Bencao Jing (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica), Han dynasty.
- Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen, 1578.
- Chinese Pharmacopoeia, current edition — identity, quality and safety monographs.
- NCCIH and WHO reference material on traditional medicine safety.
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Dou Kou (Fructus Amomi Rotundus). The mature fruit of Amomum kravanh Pierre ex Gagnep or A
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Dou Kou (Round Cardamom Fruit)
Dou Kou (Round Cardamom Fruit) is acrid and warm. It resolves dampness, moves qi, warms the middle burner and arrests vomiting. Add it late when decocting.
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