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(Gourd vegetables) Possess the effects of descending Qi, promoting diuresis, relieving strangury, resolving jaundice, and clearing heat pathogens from the Heart and Lungs.

Baohu (Peking Gourd / Bottle Gourd) (primarily enters the Heart, Stomach, Large Intestine, and Small Intestine meridians, and secondarily the Lung meridian). There are various species; their shapes vary in size and length, and their tastes range from sweet to bitter. (*Jinnang* records: Those long like winter melons are called "Hu"; those short like watermelons are called "Pao"; those with a narrow waist and sharp head are called "Hulu" (bottle gourd); those with a straight handle and round bottom are called "Piaozi" (ladle gourd), used as vegetables. There are two types: bitter and sweet. The sweet ones are large, the bitter ones are small. It is also said that if fertilized with chicken manure, the sweet variety may turn bitter.) Its nature can be neutral or cold. (Sweet varieties are mostly neutral; bitter varieties are mostly cold.) Its utility has both benefits and drawbacks. The benefit lies not only in its use as a vessel. (Li Shizhen stated: Items such as Hu and Pao can be cooked, dried for use as containers. Large ones serve as lids for jars, small ones as ladles and wine cups. Made into waist boats, they float on water; made into sheng flutes, they produce music. Fu-hu can be used to raise pigs, Xi-ban for candle holders. Their utility is extensive!) Moreover, it can promote urination downward, descend Qi, unblock water passages, and treat conditions such as strangury, retention, jaundice, and edema of the face and eyes. (For abdominal distension with yellowish swelling, burn an Ya-yao Hulu [waist-narrowed bottle gourd] including seeds until carbonized but retaining efficacy. Take one unit before meals, washed down with warm wine; if unable to drink wine, use plain water. Improvement seen within ten days. Alternatively, drip juice into the nose to discharge yellow fluid.) Entering the Heart and Lungs, it eliminates vexation-heat and thirst conditions. (Most suitable for those taking Dan-shi [mineral pills].) Burned to ash and retained efficacy, ground into powder, it is applied to rub scrofula and tumors under the armpits. (Long-handled Hulu is best.) Leaves mashed and eaten as vegetables; Sun Simiao praised them as sweet and neutral, capable of sustaining hunger. Flowers should be dried in shade; Li Shizhen pointed out that decoction can detoxify and mitigate smallpox severity. (Empirical prescription: In July or August, take Hulu vines shaped like ring feet, dry in shade, decoct on New Year's Eve to bathe infants, preventing smallpox.) As for the seeds, they enter the Kidney to treat various dental diseases, as well as leukoma and nasal congestion. (If gums swell or recede, teeth loosen and hurt, mix eight taels of seeds with four taels of Achyranthes Root (Niuxi), take five qian per dose, decoct in water for mouthwash, three to four times daily. For nasal congestion, blood leukoma, or polyps, treat with seed decoction.) These are all beneficial aspects. Heaven likely created this item as a necessity for the summer season. However, there are considerable warnings regarding harm. Bian Que stated: Those suffering from deficiency-type distension must not eat it; doing so will cause the illness to never resolve. Bitter varieties especially damage Stomach Qi and should not be tried lightly. All bitter-cold medicines can impair the Stomach, not just this one. *Shennong Bencao Jing* treats general edema but warns that promoting urination may induce vomiting, severely damaging Middle Qi. Currently, people treat jaundice and hydrops with urinary obstruction by either steeping in fiery wine over steamed rice or stuffing with sugar frost and burning to carbonization. This aggressive method is only suitable for acute excess syndromes to forcibly purge pathogens. If mistakenly taken by those with chronic illness and deficient Stomach Qi, it inevitably leads to incessant vomiting and diarrhea, often resulting in death. Can one not be cautious?