无毒 蔓生
白冬瓜主除小腹水胀利小便止渴（名医所录）【苗】（图经曰）蔓生布地茎叶有毛开黄花
实
生蔓下大者如斗而更长皮浓初生有毛青绿色但经霜则白如敷粉故谓之白冬瓜也人以藏蓄作菜
入药须霜后采者为佳【地】（图经曰）生嵩高平泽今处处有之【时】（生）春生苗（采）八九
月取
【用】肉【色】皮青肉白【味】甘【性】微寒【气】气之薄者阳中之阴【臭】腥【主】消热
毒止烦闷【治】（疗）（图经曰）肉止三消渴疾及积热利大小肠（陶隐居云）止烦闷捣汁服之
（药
性论云）练汁能止烦燥热及利小肠除消渴并五淋（日华子云）冬瓜除烦胸膈热消热毒痈肿切
摩
痱子甚良○叶杀虫诗云莫予 蜂自求辛螫亦可修事蜂儿 肿毒及蜂可藤烧灰可出绣点黯洗黑
并洗疮疥湿瓤亦可漱练白缣（孟诜云）冬瓜除胸心满闷头面热者食之佳（衍义曰）冬瓜治
发背
及一切痈疽削一大块置疮上热则易之瓜当烂截去更合之分散热毒甚良（别录云）小儿渴利单
捣
瓜汁饮之及伤寒后痢日久津液枯竭四肢浮肿口干冬瓜一枚黄土泥浓裹五寸煨令烂热去土绞汁
服之及治水病初得危急冬瓜不限多少任吃神效小儿一月至五个月乍寒乍热炮冬瓜绞汁服治渴
不止（补）（孟诜云）益气耐老【禁】患冷者食之瘦人九月勿食被霜瓜食之令人成反胃病【解】
压丹石毒并鱼中毒饮瓜汁最验
Non-toxic. Vining growth.
White Winter Melon (Bai Donggua): Primarily used to eliminate abdominal distension due to water retention, promote urination, and relieve thirst (as recorded in *Mingyi Bielu*). 【Seedling】 (*Tujing Bencao* records): The vines spread over the ground; stems and leaves have hairs; flowers are yellow.
Fruit: Grows beneath the vines. Large ones can be as big as a dou (a unit of volume) and longer. The skin is thick, initially hairy and greenish-blue, but turns white like applied powder after frost, hence the name "White Winter Melon." People store it as a vegetable. For medicinal use, those harvested after frost are preferred. 【Origin】 (*Tujing Bencao* records): Grows in highlands of Song Mountain and flat marshes; now found everywhere. 【Season】: Seedlings emerge in spring. [Harvest]: Collected in August and September.
[Medicinal Part]: Flesh. [Color]: Green skin, white flesh. [Taste]: Sweet. [Nature]: Slightly cold. [Qi]: Thin qi, Yin within Yang. [Odor]: Fishy. [Main Action]: Clears heat toxins, relieves irritability and oppression. [Therapeutic Effects]:
(Efficacy) (*Tujing Bencao* records): Flesh treats Sanxiao polydipsia (various types of wasting-thirst syndrome) and intestinal blockage due to accumulated heat.
(Tao Hongjing says): Relieves irritability; take crushed juice.
(*Yaoxing Lun* says): Juice relieves restlessness and heat, promotes small intestine function, eliminates wasting-thirst, and treats Wulin (five types of strangury).
(Ri Hua Zi says): Clears chest and diaphragm heat, resolves heat-toxin carbuncles; rubbing helps treat prickly heat.
○ Leaves: Insecticidal.
(Note: The text regarding bees is fragmented in the source. It implies treating bee stings/swelling, possibly using ash from vines for sores/eczema.)
(Meng Shen says): Beneficial for those with chest/epigastric fullness and heat in the head/face.
(*Yanyi* says): Treats Faback (back carbuncle) and all carbuncles/furuncles. Apply a large slice to the sore; replace when warm. Repeat until the melon rots away. Effectively disperses heat-toxin.
(*Mingyi Bielu* says): For infants with thirst and diarrhea, administer single crushed juice.
For post-typhoid dysentery lasting long, with depleted fluids, edema of limbs, and dry mouth: Take one winter melon, wrap thickly in yellow earth mud (5 cun thick), bake until soft. Remove mud, crush/juice, and drink.
For acute/water-disease emergencies: Eat winter melon without limit; effective miraculously.
For infants aged 1-5 months with alternating chills and fever: Administer juice from roasted winter melon to treat persistent thirst.
[Nourishing]: (Meng Shen says): Benefits Qi, enhances resistance to aging/cold.
[Contraindications]: Those with cold syndromes should avoid it as it causes emaciation. Thin individuals should not eat it in the ninth month. Frost-bitten melons cause regurgitation/vomiting if eaten.
[Detoxification]: Most effective for neutralizing Dan-Shi toxicity (from mineral pills) and fish poisoning; drinking melon juice is highly verified.