What are the effects and actions of Gardenia jasminoides fruit?

Gardenia jasminoides fruit, also known as Shuihangzhi, Zhizihua, Zhizi and so on, is the fruit of the gardenia plant Gardenia jasminoides in the Rubiaceae family. Used as medicine, it has the effects of clearing heat, draining fire and cooling blood, and has therapeutic effects on conditions such as fever with deficiency restlessness and insomnia, jaundice, gonorrhea, wasting-thirst, red eyes, sore throat, hematemesis, epistaxis, bloody dysentery, hematuria, heat-toxin sores and ulcers, and sprains with swelling and pain. Now let us take a look at the effects and actions of Gardenia jasminoides fruit!

The medicinal effects of Gardenia jasminoides fruit

[Nature and flavor] Bitter in taste, cold in nature.

[Meridian entry] Heart, liver, lung and stomach meridians.

[Effects] Clears heat, drains fire and cools blood; mainly treats fever with deficiency restlessness and insomnia, jaundice, gonorrhea, wasting-thirst, red eyes, sore throat, hematemesis, epistaxis, bloody dysentery, hematuria, heat-toxin sores and ulcers, and sprains with swelling and pain.

The pharmacological actions of Gardenia jasminoides fruit

1. Cholagogic effect: When the aqueous extract and alcoholic extract of gardenia were given orally to rabbits, there was no effect on the volume of bile drained from the bile duct or its solid components, but when the same preparation was injected into rabbits, bile secretion began to increase after 15 to 30 minutes and lasted for more than 1 hour. After intravenous injection of crocin and sodium crocetin into rabbits, the amount of bile secreted increased. After oral administration of gardenia decoction or infusion to humans, gallbladder radiography showed that the gallbladder had an obvious contracting effect at 20 and 40 minutes after taking the medicine.

2. Sedative effect: Subcutaneous injection of gardenia fluid extract into mice reduced spontaneous activity, caused closing of the eyes, lowering of the head and muscle relaxation, and could counteract pentylenetetrazol-induced convulsions but not strychnine-induced convulsions, although it could reduce their mortality; when the ash of the fluid extract was used as a control, the above effects were not seen. It is also used by some to relieve insomnia and excessive fatigue.

3. Blood pressure-lowering effect: Gardenia decoction and alcoholic extract have a lasting blood pressure-lowering effect on anesthetized or non-anesthetized cats, rats and rabbits, whether given orally or by intraperitoneal injection; intravenous injection lowers blood pressure rapidly but the effect lasts only a short time, and the site of its blood pressure-lowering action appears to be the parasympathetic center in the medulla oblongata.

4. Antimicrobial: Gardenia aqueous infusion has an inhibitory effect in vitro on various fungi such as Trichophyton schoenleinii, Epidermophyton inguinale and Trichophyton rubrum. Its decoction at 15 mg/ml can kill Leptospira. In vitro, gardenia decoction can cause Schistosoma to stop moving. The decoction has no inhibitory effect on bacterial growth.

5. Other effects: Gardenia alcoholic extract has an excitatory effect on isolated intestinal smooth muscle of rabbits and rats at low concentration and an inhibitory effect at high concentration. Dehydroxylated geniposide has a purgative effect in mice, and an ointment made from its extract can accelerate the healing of soft tissue.

Various discussions of Gardenia jasminoides fruit

1. "Shennong Bencao Jing": Mainly treats pathogenic qi in the five internal organs, heat qi in the stomach, facial redness, rosacea with reddish nose, white leprosy, red leprosy, and sores and ulcers.

2. "Mingyi Bielu": Treats eye heat with pain, great heat in the chest, heart, large and small intestines, oppression and restlessness in the heart, and heat qi in the stomach.

3. "Yaoxing Lun": Kills toxic insects, removes heat-toxin wind, promotes the five types of strangury, mainly treats sudden severe illness, frees urination, resolves the five types of jaundice, improves vision, treats seasonal diseases by removing heat, and treats wasting-thirst with dry mouth and red, swollen and painful eyes.

4. "Yaolei Faxiang": Treats heart vexation and distress with inability to sleep, mental derangement nearing collapse, and blood stagnation with difficult urination.

5. "Gangmu": Treats hematemesis, epistaxis, bloody dysentery, passage of blood, bloody strangury, traumatic blood stasis, and cold damage relapse due to overexertion, heat reversal headache, hernia qi, and scald and burn injuries.

The processing methods of Gardenia jasminoides fruit

1. Raw gardenia: Sift away dust and debris, pick out impurities, crush and sift, or cut off both ends.

2. Gardenia kernel: Take clean gardenia, cut it open from the middle with scissors, and peel off the outer skin to obtain the kernel.

3. Gardenia peel: That is, the outer fruit skin peeled from raw gardenia.

4. Fried gardenia: Take crushed gardenia, place it in a pot and stir-fry over gentle heat until golden yellow, take it out and let it cool.

5. Scorched gardenia: Take crushed gardenia, place it in a pot and stir-fry over strong heat until scorched and charred in color, take it out and let it cool.

6. Gardenia charcoal: Take crushed gardenia, place it in a pot and stir-fry over strong heat until dark brown, but its nature must be preserved, then take it out and let it cool.

Medicinal selected formulas of Gardenia jasminoides fruit

1. To treat cold damage after sweating and vomiting: For the above two ingredients, use four sheng of water, first boil the gardenia to obtain two and a half sheng, add the fermented soybean, boil and take one and a half sheng, remove the dregs, and divide into two doses. Take one dose warm; if vomiting occurs, stop the later dose.

2. To treat relapse due to overexertion after recovery from severe cold damage: Three pieces of bitter orange (roasted), fourteen gardenia fruits (split), one sheng of fermented soybean (wrapped in silk). For the above three ingredients, use seven sheng of clear rice-washing water, boil it empty to obtain four sheng, add the bitter orange and gardenia, boil to obtain two sheng, add the fermented soybean, boil again for five or six boils, remove the dregs, take warm in two divided doses, and cover to induce slight sweating. If there is retained food, add rhubarb about the size of five or six chess pieces.

3. To treat cold damage with yellowed body and fever: Fifteen plump gardenia fruits (split), one liang of licorice (roasted), two liang of Phellodendron amurense. For the above three ingredients, use four sheng of water, boil to obtain one and a half sheng, remove the dregs, and take warm in two divided doses.

4. To treat inability to urinate: Twenty-seven gardenia kernels, a little salt flower, one single-clove garlic. Mash the above into a paste, spread it on paper flower and apply to the navel, or smear it on the scrotum, and urination will occur after a while.

5. To treat acute gastroenteritis, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea: Three qian of gardenia, five qian of the root of Panzhunanwuwei (Zijinpi), two qian of Aristolochia debilis. Fry the above medicines until black while preserving their nature, add five qian of honey. Decoct in water and take in two divided doses.