Wax Gourd

VARIANT NAMES: Baigua, Shuizhi, Dizhi, Zhengua (Pillow Gourd), Pugua, White Wax Gourd, Donggua.

ORIGIN: The fruit of Benincasa hispida [Cucurbitaceae].

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION: In every 0.5kg of it, there are 1.5g of protein, 8g of sugar, 15g of crude cellulose, 72mg of calcium, 45mg of phosphorus, 1.1mg of iron, 0.04mg of carotene, 0.04mg of thiamine, 0.08mg of ovoflavin, 1.1mg of nicotinic acid and 61mg of vitamin C.

NATURE, FLAVOR AND CHANNEL TROPISM: Sweet, bland in flavor and cool in nature, acting on the channels of the lung, large intestine, small intestine and urinary bladder.

EFFICIENCIES AND INDICATIONS: Inducing dinresis, clearing away phlegm, removing pathogenic heat and poisonous quality of any substance. It is used to treat hydrops and turgor, beriberi, stranguria, cough and Asthma with rale, fidgets due to summer-heat, Diabetes, Infant Diarrhea, dysentery, Carbuncle and Edema. It can remove fish toxin and alcohol toxin.

DIRECTIONS: To be decocted, or eaten stewed, or made into medicated diet, or pounded to get its juice for drinking; raw wax gourd can be applied to the affected part. Cool-natured, it should not be eaten raw, and it should be avoided if a patient suffers from weakness of the spleen and stomach, cold of insufficiency type in the kidney, or lingering diarrhea resulting from a longstanding case.