Locust fruit

Locust fruit

(Wenshan Chinese herbal medicine)

[source] it is the root of Cotoneaster Formosa, a Rosaceae plant.

[plant morphology] Cotoneaster Formosa

Shrub, 1.5-2.5 m high. The bark is reddish brown; the branches are dense, tough and not easy to break; the branchlets are soft hairy at first and few hairless at last. Single leaf alternate or 5-10 pieces gathered on short branches, ovate to lanceolate, 1-2 cm long, apex acute or acuminate, base cuneate, entire, green above, white tomentose below; petiole 2-5 mm long, hairy. Flowers white or pink, 6-10 arranged into dense corymbs, on the top of branchlets. Calyx tube with white trichomes, calyx teeth triangular oval; petals flat, oval. The fruit is obovate, small, purplish red, with 2-3 nuclei.

Born in roadside, hillside bush. It is distributed in Yunnan, Guizhou and other places.

[collection] it can be harvested all year round, sliced and dried in the sun.

[flavor] bitter and astringent, cool.

Functions and indications: clearing away heat and toxin, reducing swelling and relieving pain. For mumps, lymphadenitis, measles.

[usage and dosage] oral: decoction, 3-5 yuan.