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[Vegetables, Category 11]

Solanum melongena (L.) (Sound: Jia. From Song Dynasty *Kaibao Bencao*).
【Names】Luosu (from *Ri Hua Zi Bencao Shiyi*), Kunlun Gua (from *Taiping Yulan*), Cao Biejia.
Su Song said: According to Duan Chengshi, "Jia" (sound: Jia) was originally the name for lotus stems. The current term for eggplant vegetable is pronounced like "Jia", and its origin is unknown.
Li Shizhen said: Chen Cangqi in *Bencao Shiyi* stated: Eggplant is also called Luosu; the meaning of the name is unclear. According to *Wudai Yizi Lu*, it is written as "Lasu" (Cheese Butter), probably because its taste resembles cheese or butter, which seems plausible in meaning. Du Bao's *Shiyi Lu* stated: Emperor Yang of Sui renamed eggplant as Kunlun Purple Melon. Additionally, Wang Yinjun's *Yangsheng Zhu Lun* used dried eggplant in prescriptions for treating malaria, avoiding the name and calling it Cao Biejia (Grass Tortoise Shell). This is likely because Tortoise Shell can treat alternating chills and fever, and eggplant can also treat alternating chills and fever, hence the name.
【Collection and Explanation】Su Song said: Eggplants are found everywhere. There are several varieties: Purple eggplant and Yellow eggplant are common in both north and south; White eggplant and Green Water eggplant are only found in northern regions. For medicinal use, Yellow eggplant is mostly used, while others are merely edible vegetables. In Jiangnan, there is a variety called Vine Eggplant, which grows as a vine, has thin skin resembling a gourd (*Hulu*), and is not commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Kou Zongshi said: A variety of eggplant from Silla resembles an chicken egg, with a pale luster and slight purple hue, long stem, and sweet taste. It is now widely available in China.
Li Shizhen said: Eggplant seeds should be harvested when the fruit turns yellow and ripe in September, washed clean, sun-dried, and sown/transplanted in February. The plant grows two to three chi high, with leaves as large as a palm.
From summer solstice to autumn, it opens purple flowers with five petals connected, five ridges like threads, yellow stamens, and green calyxes that enclose the fruit. Inside the eggplant is pulp, containing seeds like sesame (*Zhimá*). Eggplants vary in shape: some round like Trichosanthes fruit (*Guālóu*), others four to five cun long. There are Green, Purple, and White eggplants. White eggplant is also called Silver Eggplant and is superior to the green variety. All eggplants turn yellow when old; Su Song considered Yellow eggplant a distinct species, which seems to lack deep investigation. Wang Zhen's *Nongshu* mentions: One type is Bohai Eggplant, white and firm. Another is Tomato (*Fanqie*), white and flat, sweet, crisp, and non-astringent, edible raw or cooked. Another is Purple Eggplant, purple in color, long stem, sweet taste. Another is Water Eggplant, long-shaped, sweet taste, capable of quenching thirst. *Hong Rongzhai Suibi* states: Common eggplants in western Zhejiang have purple skins, with white ones called Water Eggplant; common eggplants in Jiangxi have white skins, with purple ones called Water Eggplant. This is another peculiarity. Liu Xun's *Lingbiao Lu Yi* states: Eggplant trees in the Jiao region do not shed leaves in winter, growing into large trees over two to three years, with fruits like melons. Spreading eggplant leaves on roads and surrounding them with ash causes abundant seed production, known as "Married Eggplant".
Eggplant
【Flavor and Nature】Sweet, Cold, Non-toxic.
Meng Shen said: People with chronic cold conditions should not eat too much, as it damages the body, disturbs Qi, and induces sores and chronic diseases.
Li Pengfei said: Eating it in autumn harms the eyes if consumed excessively.
Li Shizhen said: According to *Shengsheng Bian*: Eggplant is cold and slippery/laxative; excessive consumption leads to abdominal pain and diarrhea, and women consuming it may damage the uterus.
【Indications】Treats alternating chills and fever, Five Zang exhaustion (Meng Shen). Treats warm disease transmission and consumptive qi disorders. Rub with vinegar and apply to swellings/toxins (Daming). Burn cracked old eggplant to ash, treat nipple fissures (Zhenheng). Disperses blood, relieves pain, reduces swelling, and relaxes intestines (Li Shizhen).
【Elucidation】Kou Zongshi said: Among vegetables, this one is of no benefit. *Kaibao Bencao* lists no therapeutic indications, only stating it harms the body. Later generations added treatments, but these contradict the main text. Gardeners grow it in warm places with heavy manure, selling it at high prices around Minor Fullness (*Xiaoman*). Since it is out of season, it causes more harm. One should not ignore the principle of not eating out-of-season foods.
Zhu Zhenheng said: Eggplant belongs to Earth, thus sweet and descending in nature. Those prone to large intestine looseness should avoid it. He successfully treated nipple fissures, soaked frostbite with eggplant root decoction, and treated mouth ulcers with burnt calyx ash, all achieving remarkable effects. This illustrates the principle of using sweet flavors to moderate fire.
Li Shizhen said: Duan Chengshi's *Youyang Zazu* claims eggplant thickens the intestines/stomach and disturbs Qi causing disease. This shows a misunderstanding; eggplant is slippery and does not thicken the digestive tract.
【Attached Prescriptions】Six old, ten new.
Women's Blood-Yellow Disease: Cut yellow eggplant with a bamboo knife, dry in shade, powder. Take 2 qian each time, mixed with warm wine (*Zhaixuan Fang*).
Intestinal Wind Bleeding: Frost-exposed eggplant with calyx, burn until carbonized (preserve nature), powder. Take 2 qian daily on empty stomach with warm wine (*Lingyuan Fang*).
Chronic Lower Bleeding: Three seeds of large eggplant, take one each time, wrap in wet paper and bake until cooked, place in jar, add 1.5 sheng of unadulterated wine, seal with wax paper for three days, remove eggplant, warm and drink (*Puji Fang*).
Abdominal Biema Mass: Burn aged sauce-eggplant infants until carbonized, add musk and calomel少许, mix with fat and apply externally (*Shouyu Fang*).
Testicular Herniation/Ptosis: Hang a double-stemmed eggplant on the door frame, gaze at it upon entering/exiting. As the eggplant withers, the affliction withers; as it dries, the affliction dries. Another method: Hang two eggplants on the door, hold the child to look at them twice or thrice daily, drive nails into them, resolves in over ten days (Liu Songshi *Baoshou Tang Fang*).
Severe Wind-Heat Phlegm: Use large old yellow eggplants, place in new jar, bury in soil for one year until liquefied. Extract liquid, add Sophora flavescens (*Kushen*) powder, form pills like wu zi size. Take 30 pills with wine after meals and before sleep, highly effective. This prescription comes from Jiangnan oral tradition (Su Song *Tujing Bencao*).
Lumbar and Leg Cramping, Wind-Blood Cold Accumulation in Lumbar/Legs, Tendon Tightness and Cramping Pain: Take 50 jin eggplant, cut and wash, boil in 5 dou water to obtain concentrated juice, filter dregs, boil further in small pot to 1 dou, add raw millet flour, cook to proper consistency, knead, add musk and cinnabar powder, form pills like wu zi size. Take 30 pills with sorghum wine every morning and evening, cure within one month. Effective for both men and women (*Tujing Bencao*).
Contusion and Bruising: Use very large old yellow eggplant, slice thickness of one finger, bake on new tile, powder. Mix 2 qian with warm wine before bed, dissipates overnight without trace (*Shengjin Fang*).
Falls and Trauma, Disperse Blood Relieve Pain: Collect 100 old eggplants on Double Ninth Festival (remove calyx, split into four), 12 liang Niter (*Xiaoshi*, Potassium Nitrate). Layer eggplant and niter in leak-proof vessel, seal with paper, place in clean area, cover with new bricks, avoid ground moisture. After Zhengyue month, remove paper layers, sun-dry. Repeat daily until March when eggplant rots, open jar, pour out, filter dregs, transfer to new vessel, cover with thin silk, sun-dry until paste forms. Take half spoon mixed with wine on empty stomach, twice daily, disperses evil blood, stops pain and heals. If paste hardens, dissolve with rice drink (*Tujing Bencao*).
Back Carbuncle/Malignant Sores: Take above prescription, take half spoon with wine, apply paste around sore. Feels cold as ice, sore dries and heals. Even if root is in skin/collaterals, internal resolution occurs (Same source).
Heat-Toxin Sores/Swellings: Raw eggplant one piece, cut off 2 fen top, scoop out 2 fen pulp, shape like jar, place over sore, dissipates immediately. If pus formed, repeat to cure (*Shengji Zonglu*).
Tooth Swelling/Pain: Aged pickled eggplant, burn to ash, rub frequently on teeth, immediate effect (*Haishang Mingfang*).
Cavity Tooth Pain: Burn yellow eggplant seeds to ash, rub, effective (*Zhaxuan Fang*).
Throat Bi Swelling/Pain: Pickled eggplant or sauce eggplant, chew finely and swallow juice (*Desheng Tang Fang*).
Women's Nipple Fissures: Cold eggplants naturally cracked in autumn moon, dry in shade, burn to carbonized ash, powder, mix with water and apply (*Buyi* Prescription).
Eggplant Calyx
【Indications】Burn to ash, take 2 qian with rice drink, treat persistent intestinal wind bleeding and bloody hemorrhoids (Wu Rui). Burn to ash, treat mouth/teeth sores. Freshly cut, rub on vitiligo (Li Shizhen).
【Elucidation】Li Shizhen said: To treat vitiligo, dip eggplant calyx in sulfur and aconite (*Fuzi*) powder and apply, utilizing its blood-dispersing property. For vitiligo (*Baidian*), use white eggplant calyx; for purpura (*Zidian*), use purple eggplant calyx, following the principle of similarity.
【Attached Prescriptions】One new.
Wind-Cavity Tooth Pain: Burn eggplant calyx to ash and apply. Or mix with equal parts Asarum (*Xixin*) powder, use daily (*Ren Cun Fang*).
Eggplant Flower
【Indications】Metal wounds, tooth pain (Li Shizhen).
【Attached Prescriptions】One new.
Tooth Pain: Dry autumn eggplant flowers, burn and powder, apply to painful area, stops pain immediately (*Haishang Mingfang*).
Eggplant Root and Withered Stems/Leaves
【Indications】Frostbite and cracked skin, boil decoction and soak, good effect (*Kaibao Bencao*).
Disperse blood, reduce swelling, treat hematuria, lower bleeding, bloody dysentery, uterine prolapse, dental caries and oral fungous growths (Li Shizhen).
【Attached Prescriptions】Nine new.
Hematuria Pain: Smoke-dry eggplant leaves to powder, take 2 qian with warm wine or salt water. Aged ones are better (*Jingyan Liangfang*).
Intestinal Wind Bleeding: Same prescription as above, take with rice drink.
Chronic Dysentery: Burn eggplant root to ash, equal parts pomegranate peel (*Shiliupi*). Powder, take with sugar water (*Jianbian Danfang*).
Uterine Prolapse: Burn eggplant root to carbonized ash, powder. Mix with oil on paper, roll into tube, insert vaginally, once daily (*Qiankun Shengyi*).
Oral Fungous Growth: Rinse mouth with vinegar, mix burnt eggplant mother (*Qimu*) and refined salt equally, dilute with rice vinegar, rub frequently (*Zhaxuan Fang*).
Dental Caries Pain: Crush eggplant root for juice, apply frequently. Apply ash of aged eggplant tree. First rinse mouth with honeycomb (*Lufengfang*) decoction (*Haishang Mingfang*).
Tooth Extraction for Toothache: Soak eggplant stalks in horse urine for three days, sun-dry, stir-fry, powder. Apply to tooth, tooth falls out, truly miraculous (Bao Shi Fang).
Summer Toe Swelling, Unable to Walk: Harvest eggplant roots in September, hang under eaves, boil daily and wash feet (*Jianbian Fang*).