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(Five Fruits) Li (Plum): Astringes the heat in the bone joints; if not treated properly, it is difficult to cure.
Li (Plum) [Prunus salicina] (Specifically enters the Liver Meridian of Foot-Jueyin, and concurrently enters the Kidney Meridian of Foot-Shaoyin). This is because the plum has many seeds. Li Shizhen said: The fruit of the plum tree, large ones are like cups or eggs, small ones are like pellets or cherries.
Its taste includes sweet, sour, bitter, and astringent varieties. Its colors vary among green, dark green, purple, vermilion, yellow, red, pale blue, patterned silk-like, purple-gray, and carmine-green peel. Its shapes differ as ox-heart, horse-liver, Nai-li, apricot-li, water-li, pit-free, pit-inclusive, seedless, and flat-seamed. Its production areas include Wuling and Fangling plums. Early-ripening ones mature in April, while late-ripening ones mature in October or November. Therefore, its taste is sweet and sour, or bitter and astringent. Its nature is slightly warm. (Bitter and astringent plums should not be eaten; those that sink in water and are toxic should not be eaten.) The *Suwen* states that the flavor of plum belongs to the Liver. Thus, its therapeutic effects mostly target the Liver, which aligns with Sun Simiao’s saying that patients with Liver disease should eat plums. If there is stubborn internal heat dysregulation, and consumptive fever in the bone joints that is hard to treat, the intake of this sour and bitter nature allows the heat to be astringed by the sourness and descended by the bitterness, thereby eliminating all heat. Furthermore, although texts state it removes heat, they also warn that excessive consumption causes abdominal distension and induces deficiency heat. This is likely because raw food is hard to digest, while cooked food is easy to assimilate. Plums are hard and raw items; excessive consumption leads to indigestion in the stomach, transforming into diseases of abdominal distension and fever! Deduced from texts, eating plums during warm, hot, or summer conditions can induce phlegm-malaria; consuming them with sparrow meat and honey damages the Five Zang Organs; eating them with fermented grain juice induces cholera; and those taking Atractylodes macrocephala Rhizome must avoid them. This is none other than because plums are damp-natured foods. Small amounts are suitable; excessive amounts cause phlegm and heat to gather. Eating them alone without mixing with damp-heat substances allows for larger quantities, but mixing them with damp-heat substances makes any benefit impossible. Thus, the instruction to abstain is precisely to prompt self-reflection.

(Five Fruits) Tao (Peach): Generates heat and induces toxicity.
Qing Tao (Green Peach) [Prunus persica var. viridis] (Specifically enters the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin). It is a fruit of the Lung system. However, it is listed in the lower category because peach tastes sweet and sour, and its nature is hot with slight toxicity. Therefore, medical texts record that consumption causes fever, carbuncles, diarrhea, abdominal distension progressing to strangury, and triggers Dan-stone toxicity. Consuming it with turtle meat causes unremitting heart pain. It is contraindicated for those taking Atractylodes macrocephala Rhizome. Investigating its main indications, only one phrase mentions that making it into preserved fruit can improve complexion; nothing else is cited. Thus, we know peach nature is inherently hot. Eating raw peach leads to non-digestion, intensifying its heat. How could it be beneficial without harm, avoiding diseases of fullness, fever, toxicity, and sores? Winter peaches are slightly better and can relieve consumptive fever.