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The water-draining efficacy is potent; long-term use will inevitably damage Kidney Qi (Kidney energy) and impair vision. If one insists on long-term use, careful deliberation is all the more necessary.

All varieties of bamboo and bamboo shoots possess a slightly cold nature; thus, it is understood that their medicinal applications are consistent. The *Shennong Bencao Jing* (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica) does not specify the properties of bamboo shoots or bitter bamboo. If extracting bamboo sap to make oil, there is no need to strictly select specific types. Zhang Zhongjing used Danzhu (Light Bamboo) in the Zhuye Tang (Bamboo Leaf Decoction). Bamboo shoots are difficult to digest and do not benefit the Spleen. A neighbor’s child, only two years old, was momentarily unattended, resulting in high fever, coarse and rapid breathing, anorexia, excessive sleepiness, groaning with head tilted back, slight vomiting and regurgitation, and frequent convulsions with eyes closed. This persisted for three to five days. The physician treated it as Slow Convulsion Syndrome (Man Jing Feng). As the treatment was inappropriate, the illness did not resolve. Suddenly, the mother mistakenly administered a medicine containing Radix Euphorbiae Lathyri (Badou, Croton Seed) as a convulsion remedy, processed into five pills the size of sesame seeds, which were force-fed. After some time, the child vomited profusely; an object was lodged in the throat. The wet nurse extracted it with her finger. It was approximately three cun long and as thick as a little finger—it was a dried shoot of arrow bamboo that had been sun-dried on the steps three days prior. That night, all symptoms subsided. The next day, treatment with harmonizing stomach qi formulas led to recovery. Such is the difficulty in digesting bamboo shoots. The Classics state: "To inquire and thereby understand is called Gong" (a skilled physician). Children cannot articulate inquiries, making them difficult to treat; physicians must be cautious.

Zhishi (Immature Bitter Orange) and Zhike (Ripe Bitter Orange) are from the same source. When small, its nature is fierce and rapid; when large, its nature is mild and slow. Therefore, when Zhang Zhongjing treated acute conditions of Cold Damage (Shanghan), he used Zhishi in Chengqi Tang (Harmonizing the Stomach Decoction); this was his intent. Both are employed for their ability to promote unblocking and purgation, and to break up solid accumulations. In other formulas, if the aim is merely to guide out stale, stagnant Qi and allow for long-term use, Zhike is used; this is the reasoning.

It is very dissimilar to Wuzhuyu (Evodia Fruit). Shanzhuyu (Cornus Officinalis Fruit) is red and the size of Goji berries. Wuzhuyu resembles Sichuan Pepper (Chuanjiao); when newly formed, its size is no larger than pepper, and its color is distinctly green. Although they share similar names, their therapeutic actions differ. It remains unclear why they were named so similarly originally. However, Shanzhuyu tonifies and nourishes the Kidneys, with no contraindications. The Classics and their annotations have already described this comprehensively.

This substance must be soaked in deep water multiple times (six or seven times) to remove its bitter and acrid juices before it can be used. Neither the current text nor the annotations nor the processing methods mentioned therein address this, representing an omission. This herb descends Qi most rapidly; those with deficient intestines will suffer worsened conditions upon taking it.