Balsam pear

Balsam pear

(commonly used Chinese herbal medicine in Tibet)

[synonym] sergemeido (Tibetan name).

[source] it is the fruit of Cucurbitaceae.

Plant morphology of Cucurbita pepo

Herbaceous Liana. Stem slender, climbing. Leaves alternate, heart-shaped broad ovate, palmately lobed, base lobe shaped, edge irregular serrate, green above, light green below, fine hairs on both sides; petiole slender, hairy; axillary tendrils 2-3-lobed. The flowers are large, yellow and unisexual; the male inflorescences are usually two in the axils of one leaf, with one single flower falling early and the other raceme; the female flowers are isolated from a very short peduncle; the calyx tube is long columnar, 5-toothed, linear; the petals are 5, nearly free; the stamens are 3; the ovary is long elliptic, 3-locular, with 4-6 ovules in each locule. The fruit is broad, oblong, narrow at both ends, 3-angled, irregularly undulate ridged, 3-petaled, divided from the central axis to the base.

Born under the forest. It is distributed in Southwest China and Tibet.

[collection] harvest from September to October and dry in the sun.

Cold in nature and bitter in taste.

Functions and indications: clearing away heat and toxin, softening liver. Treatment of icteric infectious hepatitis, dyspepsia.

[usage and dosage] oral administration: decoction, 1-3 yuan.