Herbal Color Atlas-(3)

Author: Wang Yi / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Punica granatum, also known as "laughing sky fruit," "red flower," or "golden grain." It is derived from the root bark or fruit peel of the plant Punica granatum L. The plant is a deciduous shrub or small tree, reaching 2–5 meters in height. The bark is grayish-green. Young branches are nearly circular or slightly quadrangular, with tips usually spiny and hairless. Leaves are opposite or clustered; the blades are oblanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 2.5–6 cm long, 1–1.8 cm wide, with a sharp apex or slightly emarginate, a gradually narrowed base, and entire margins.
Flowers are one to several, born at the tips of small branches or in the axils, with a diameter of about 3 cm; the calyx tube is bell-shaped, fleshy and thick, red, with 6 lobes; the petals are 6, red.
The fruit is nearly spherical, with a thick, leathery peel that turns yellow when ripe or reddish. Seeds are numerous, oblong, and angular. The flowering period is May–June, and the fruiting period is July–August. It grows on sunny slopes or is cultivated artificially. It is distributed in Guizhou and most parts of China.
The main chemical components include:
- Root bark and stem bark of Punica granatum contain isopunic alkaloid, punic alkaloid, pseudopunic alkaloid, β-sitosterol, and mannitol, etc.
- Fruit peel contains tannins, wax, resin, mannitol, sugar, gum, inulin, mucilage, gallic acid, malic acid, pectin, calcium oxalate, and isorhamnetin glycoside.
Properties and Effects: Sour, astringent, and warm. It astringes the bowels, stops diarrhea, and kills parasites to stop leukorrhea.
Clinical Applications:
① Treating dysentery: 20 g of pomegranate peel is decocted and taken orally.
② Treating tapeworm and roundworm: Equal parts of pomegranate peel and Areca catechu are ground into a fine powder, taken 6 g each time, twice daily, for 2 days.
③ Treating roundworm disease: 18 g of pomegranate root bark is decocted and taken in 3 doses, with one dose every half hour. After the last dose, take an osmotic laxative 4 hours later.
④ Treating kidney stones: 30 g of pomegranate root and Hydrocotyle sibirica are decocted and taken. Dosage: 10–20 g.
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