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*Huan You Bi Ji* (Notes from Official Travels) records: In the frontier regions, there is a plant called *Zhakemu*, which grows in clusters. The tree is about five chi tall, has no bark, and its branches and trunk are clear green and lovely. The leaves resemble those of willow trees in early spring, but the texture is very hard, with no soft drooping twigs, making it quite resistant to frost and snow. If felled for firewood, it ignites immediately upon contact with fire, resembling charcoal, producing red flames without smoke. Placing a piece of one cun in diameter in a stove, it takes one or two days to burn to ash. This tree only grows in sandy desert areas; when strong winds blow, the root system is uprooted because it does not penetrate deep into the soil, hence its lifespan is short, and none survive for long.

*Xi Bei Yu Ji* (Records of the Northwest Regions) states: *Zhakemu* is produced in the Tui River region. It resembles silk willow but does not droop, has no bark, and resists frost and snow. When green, it ignites instantly in a furnace and burns for several days before turning to ash. However, large specimens require two arms to embrace, and tall ones reach eight chi (one xun). Why do they fall easily in the wind? Because the soil is sandy and saline, making the roots difficult to anchor and prone to decay.

It treats difficult childbirth; holding this wood during labor facilitates delivery. For heart pain, burn it to ash and ingest it.

*Bian Zhi* (Border Chronicles) records: Produced in Liaodong, the tree is over one zhang tall. The leaves grow opposite each other in pairs. The flowers are cup-shaped, yellow, and after fading, produce fruit that also grows in pairs, similar in size to quinces, green in color, maturing in summer. Humans cannot eat it; if ingested by mistake, teeth fall out like dust, the tongue turns black as lacquer, the mouth cracks and bleeds profusely, preventing eating for a day, and recovery takes ten days. It can also crush bones like mud. Locals use it to lubricate the hooves of newborn camels so they can walk a thousand li; otherwise, they cannot walk. Its nature is rigid and sharp like an awl; used as a piercing tool, it is as sharp as a saw. It is essential for making horn utensils.

Its nature is fierce and highly toxic; it can corrode bones and shatter teeth. It is used by surgeons and practitioners of external medicine.

*Bai Cao Jing* (Mirror of Hundred Herbs) records: *Dingxiang You* (Clove Oil) comes from the Southern Barbarians. It is extracted from female cloves (*Mu Dingxiang*). It is purple in color, aromatic, pungent, and intense. Barbarians store it in glass vessels; if the lid is not tight, the fragrance permeates outward. It is abundant in Macau, Guangdong.

*Yao Xing Kao* (Examination of Drug Properties) records: *Dingxiang You* (Clove Oil) comes from the Western Barbarians. Its taste is sweet and pungent, and its nature is greatly hot. It penetrates orifices and drives out cold, acting faster than cloves themselves. It treats stomach cold pain; a few drops can be added to decoctions, or the oil applied to painful areas on the navel. It warms the Dantian and removes watery diarrhea; apply with *Nuan Qi Gao* (Warming Navel Plaster). It resolves crab toxicity; take one drop mixed with ginger soup. Rubbing teeth with it treats halitosis.

*Yao Xing Kao* further states: It strengthens yang and warms the kidneys, treating hernia pain and yin-cold conditions.

According to *Qi Min Yao Shu*: *Jishe Xiang* (Chicken Tongue Fragrance) is female clove. Li Shizhen stated that male cloves are *Dingxiang*, while female cloves are *Jishe Xiang*. Among cloves, the female ones are uniquely large and suitable for oil extraction; the male ones are small and unsuitable for pressing. My brother-in-law Zhu Fangxian served as an official in Guangdong. He claimed that *Dingxiang You* (Clove Oil) is a recent innovation. Its nature is hot and lascivious. Any clothing, ornaments, or objects stained with its scent retain it for days. Recently, wealthy families have prized it for bedroom use. Authentic oil is purple, similar to rose; when dropped in water and stirred, it disperses and then re-aggregates. Counterfeits are called *Zhangmu You* (Camphor Wood Oil), which is slightly paler, purple with yellow-black tints, pungent, smelling of camphor upon inhalation. It can be dropped into bathwater or laundry, or put in sachets to repel sweat, but is not used medicinally. *Bencao Gangmu* listed *Dingpi* (Clove Skin) and branch roots under Clove, omitting the oil, perhaps because it did not exist then or had not yet entered Central China.

Applied to the navel, it dissipates abdominal distension and masses. For stomach pain due to cold, mix with good wine and ingest.

Jin Yucheng said: For severe hiccups and vomiting due to stomach cold, rub *Dingxiang You* (Clove Oil) thoroughly through the Zhongwan point. For painful bi-syndrome, rubbing the painful area yields immediate results; I have tested it and found it extremely effective.

Zhu Mu's *Shi Xiao Fang* (Trial Efficacy Formulas) records: Used in *Hua He Gao* (Core-Softening Paste) to treat scrofula. Its purpose is to utilize its intense fragrance to penetrate meridians directly and its pungency to disperse stagnation and nodules.