即山药藤上所结之子
甘,平。入足少阴经。补虚损,强腰脊,益肾水。
甘、苦、平。入手太阴及手少阴经。润肺宁心,清热止嗽,利二便,除浮肿,疗虚痞,
退寒
热,定惊悸,止涕泪,治伤寒百合病。(行住坐卧不定。)得川贝母,降肺气。配款冬花,治
痰血。
白花者入药。鲜者可煎可煮,干者作粉食,最益人。肠滑者禁用。多服伤脾气。(中气
寒则
下陷。)
甘,寒。入手阳明经。利膈下气,消热痰,通二便。
煎汤煮药。脾胃弱者不宜食。同羊肝食,令人目盲。
(菜蔬类四种)
甘,寒。散血消肿。老裂者烧灰,敷乳头裂。醋磨,敷肿毒。经霜者,连蒂烧存性,为
末酒
服,治肠风下血。糟茄或酱茄,细嚼咽汁,疗喉痹肿痛。隔年糟茄烧灰,擦牙齿痛。
蒂
烧灰,治口疮。鲜蒂蘸硫黄末,擦癜风。(白癜用白茄蒂,紫癜用紫茄蒂。)
甘,微寒。入手太阳、阳明经。除心胸满,去头面热,利大小便,压丹石毒。贴痈肿,
磨痱
子。用赤小豆填满瓜中,糯谷糠煨干,为末糊丸,冬瓜汤下,每日三服,可治水肿。
久病阴虚者忌用。九月不可食,令人反胃,须被霜食之乃佳。
子
甘,平。入足厥阴经。除烦明目。治肠痈,去皮风。中寒者禁用。
The fruit borne on the vines of Dioscorea opposita (Chinese yam).
Sweet, neutral. Enters the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian. Tonifies deficiency and damage, strengthens the waist and spine, benefits Kidney Water.
Sweet, bitter, neutral. Enters the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian and the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian. Moistens the lungs and calms the heart, clears heat and stops coughing, promotes urination and defecation, eliminates edema, treats deficiency-type epigastric fullness, reduces cold and heat, stabilizes palpitations and fright, stops rhinorrhea and lacrimation, and treats Shanghan Baihe disease (characterized by restlessness in walking, standing, sitting, or lying down). Combined with Chuanbeimu (Fritillariae Thunbergii Bulbus), it descends Lung Qi. Paired with Kuandonghua (Adenophorae Radix et Rhizoma), it treats hemoptysis.
White flowers are used for medicinal purposes. Fresh ones can be decocted or boiled; dried ones can be made into powder for consumption, which is most beneficial to humans. Contraindicated in cases of loose stools. Overconsumption damages Spleen Qi. (When Middle Qi is cold, it sinks.)
Promotes urination and defecation, stops hot coughs, applied externally to treat erysipelas swelling.
Sweet, cold. Enters the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian. Relieves diaphragmatic oppression and directs Qi downward, dissipates hot phlegm, unblocks urination and defecation.
Can be used in decoctions or boiling medicines. Not suitable for those with weak Spleen and Stomach. Consuming it together with sheep liver causes blindness.
(Four types of vegetables)
Sweet, cold. Disperses blood and reduces swelling. Old, split eggplants are burned to ash and applied to cracked nipples. Ground with vinegar and applied to toxic swellings. Eggplants after frost, burned with the stem until carbonized but retaining nature, ground into powder and taken with wine, treat intestinal wind with bloody stool. Pickled or sauce-fermented eggplants, chewed finely and swallowed juice, treat throat bi with swelling and pain. Pickled eggplants from previous years, burned to ash, rubbed on teeth to treat toothache.
The stem burned to ash treats mouth ulcers. Fresh stems dipped in sulfur powder rub vitiligo. (For vitiligo use white eggplant stems; for purpura use purple eggplant stems.)
Sweet, slightly cold. Enters the Hand Taiyang Small Intestine Meridian and the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian. Removes chest and heart fullness, eliminates heat in the head and face, promotes urination and defecation, suppresses Dan Shi toxicity (toxicity from mineral pills). Applied to carbuncles and swellings, ground to treat prickly heat. Fill a winter melon with Adzuki beans, bake dry in glutinous rice bran, grind into powder, make into pills with paste, take with Winter Melon Decoction, three times daily, can treat edema.
Contraindicated for those with long-term illness and Yin deficiency. Do not eat in the ninth month as it causes regurgitation; best eaten after frost.
Seeds
Sweet, neutral. Enters the Foot Jueyin Liver Meridian. Relieves irritability and brightens eyes. Treats intestinal abscesses, removes skin wind pathogens. Contraindicated in cases of Middle Cold.