The efficacy and function of small fruit soap

For the Chinese medicinal material such as small-fruited soap beans, we should first understand its medicinal value and precautions before consuming it. The following is an introduction to the small-fruited soapberry. I hope you can read it carefully, which will be of great help in your consumption.

【English name】 fruit of Littlefruit Honeylocust

[Alias] Small soapberry.

[Source] Medicinal material source: The fruit of the leguminous plant Gleditsia sinensis.

[Original morphology] Gleditsia microcarpa is a small tree to a tree. The branches are brown-gray with coarse thorns, which are conical, 3-5cm long and branched. Leaves are pinnately compound or doubly compound leaves; pinnae are 2-6; leaflets are usually 5-6 pairs, obliquely elliptic or rhombic-lanceolate, 2-3cm long, about 1cm wide, obtuse or rounded at the apex, acute or obliquely cuneate at the base, with blunt teeth on the margin or nearly entire, glabrous or sparsely pubescent above, glabrous beneath; petiolules are about 1mm long. Flowers are green-white and polygamous; male flowers are scattered in racemes or panicles; there are 10 stamens; bisexual flowers are gathered in racemes; calyx lobes are oblong-lanceolate; there are 5 petals, covered with coarse hairs inside; there are 5 stamens. The pods are flat, the fruit petals are leathery, almost without ovary stalk, slightly curved, black, 6-12cm long and 1-2.5cm wide. The seeds are nearly flat, oval, brown, smooth, about 8mm long and 4mm wide. The flowering period is from June to October, and the fruit ripening period is from November to April of the following year.

【Habitat distribution】Ecological environment: Grown in mountain forests.

【Nature and flavor】 Bitter; Cold

【Meridian】 Spleen; Stomach meridian

【Functions and indications】Anti-insect; detoxification and swelling reduction. Mainly used for carbuncle, swelling and infection; intestinal parasites

[Usage and Dosage] For oral use: decoct in water 6-12g; grind into powder, 1-3g; or make into pills. For external use: take appropriate amount, decoct in water for washing; or burn and grind into powder for application; or mash fresh product for application.

[Discussions by various scholars] "Xinhua Compendium of Materia Medica": The thorns and fruits have the function of expelling roundworms and carbuncles.

【Excerpt】 Chinese Materia Medica

The above is an introduction to the effects and functions of the Chinese medicine small-fruit soap beans. Small-fruit soap beans are of great help to human diseases, but it is worth noting that we should use symptomatic medication according to our personal physical condition and avoid indiscriminate consumption.