Semen Alpiniae Katsumadai (Caodoukou)

Naming
Cao Dou Kou (Semen Alpiniae Katsumadai)-Lei Gong Pao Zhi Lun (Lei’s Treaties on Preparation of Drugs)

Origin
The immature seed of Alpinia katsumadai Hayata of family Zingiberaceae.

Location
Guangxi and Guangdong provinces, etc. in China.

Harvest
Collected in summer and autumn.

The true smell and taste
Fragrant, pungent and slight bitter.

Best quality
Dry, big, full, strong fragrant.

Processing
Get rid of the pericarp and dried in sun, unprocessed, broken when used.

Property
Pungent, warm; spleen and stomach meridians entered.

Actions
Dry dampness and move qi, warm middle energizer and arrest vomiting.

Indications
A. Syndrome of obstruction of cold-damp in middle energizer
It is fragrant and warm in nature, and good at drying dampness and resolving turbidity, warming middle energizer and dispersing cold, moving qi and relieving distension. It is suitable for disturbance of qi movement due to cold-damp preponderance of spleen and stomach. It is usually combined with the middle-energizer-warming and qi-moving herbs such as Rhizoma Zingiberis (Ganjiang), Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis (Houpo), and Chen Pi.

B. Vomiting due to cold-damp
It can warm the middle energizer and disperse cold, check adverse rise of qi and arrest vomiting. For the syndrome of obstruction of cold-damp in middle energizer manifested as vomiting clear saliva, it is usually combined with the middle-energizer-warming and vomiting-arresting herbs such as Gao Liang Jiang, Chen Pi and Rou Dou Kou. For vomiting due to deficiency-cold of spleen and stomach, it is usually combined with the herbs of invigorating spleen and tonifying qi, warming middle energizer and arresting vomiting such as Ginseng-(Renshen).shtml" target='_blank' title="Radix Ginseng (Renshen)">Radix Ginseng (Renshen), Radix Glycyrrhizae (Gancao), and Sheng Jiang. In addition, it is warm and dry in property and acts for warming and drying cold-damp to check diarrhea. For chronic diarrhea due to cold-damp preponderance in interior it can be combined with the dampness-drying, middle-energizer-warming and qi-moving herbs such as Rhizoma Atractylodis (Cangzhu), Radix Aucklandiae (Muxiang), Semen Myristicae (Roudoukou)">Semen Myristicae (Roudoukou).

Dosage and Administrations
Decoct 3~6 g, or grind it into powder for pill and powder, decoct later.