Shan Zha (Fructus Crataegi)

Name

Shan Zha (Fructus Crataegi), from Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Shen Nong's Herbal)

Source and quality

The ripe fruit of the deciduous shrub or small tree Crataegus pinnatifida Bge. var. major N. E. Br. or C. pinnatifida Bge. of the family Rosaceae. It is produced in Henan, Shandong, Hebei and other provinces, and is collected in autumn.

It has a slight odor and is sour and astringent. The best grade is large, with a red scarf skin, thick flesh and few stones.

It is dried in the sun and cut into pieces, and used raw or stir-baked.

Nature and action

Sour, sweet and slightly warm. It enters the spleen, stomach and liver meridians.

It promotes digestion and dissipates food stagnation, activates blood and resolves stasis.

Indications

Food stagnation

It is sweet and sour in taste and slightly warm in nature, so it can promote digestion and dissipate food stagnation. It may be used for every kind of food stagnation syndrome, and especially for the syndrome caused by eating meat and fat improperly.

• For meat stagnation marked by distension in the stomach and abdomen, belching and acid regurgitation, abdominal pain and loose stool, it can be decocted on its own or combined with other digestant herbs such as Lai Fu Zi and Shen Qu.
• For obvious fullness, it is combined with herbs that move qi and dissipate food stagnation, such as Mu Xiang and Qing Pi in Yun Qi San from Zheng Zhi Zhun Sheng.

Chest and abdominal pain and dysmenorrhea due to blood stagnation

It is warm in nature and enters the liver meridian and the blood system, so it can activate blood, resolve stasis and stop pain.

• For hypochondriac pain it is usually combined with herbs that move qi and activate blood, such as Chuan Xiong, Tao Ren and Hong Hua.
• For postpartum abdominal pain, leukorrhea, dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea, it is decocted with sweet water, or with herbs that regulate qi, activate blood and regulate menstruation, such as Dang Gui, Xiang Fu and Hong Hua in Tong Yu Jian from Jin Yue Quan Shu.

In addition it can be used for abdominal pain due to diarrhea and dysentery, and for colic pain.

• For abdominal pain due to diarrhea and dysentery, the charred form is used on its own or together with Mu Xiang and Bing Lang.
• For colic pain, it is combined with herbs that regulate qi, dissipate nodulation and relieve pain, such as Ju He and Li Zhi He.
• It is also indicated for coronary heart disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and dysentery.

Dosage and administration

Decoct 10~15 g; a large dose can be increased to 30 g. Both the raw and the stir-baked forms lean toward promoting digestion and resolving blood stasis, while the charred form relieves diarrhea and dysentery.