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(Sweet Melon) is cold in nature and toxic. It can quench thirst and eliminate irritability and heat, but excessive consumption causes dampness, itching, and sores in the genital area, triggers latent cold diseases, generates deficiency-heat, and damages the abdomen. It also causes weakness of the body and lack of strength in the hands and feet. Consuming it in small amounts quenches thirst, promotes urination, unblocks stagnant Qi in the San Jiao (Triple Burner), and primarily treats sores in the mouth and nose.

Minister Yuxi et al. respectfully note: Ri Hua Zi states: Non-toxic.

Leaves: Treat alopecia; crush and apply the juice to stimulate hair growth.

The detailed content of *Tujing Bencao* (Illustrated Classic of Materia Medica) is recorded under the entry for "Gua Di" (Melon Stalk).

Chen Cangqi's preface states: Gan Gua Zi (Sweet Melon Seeds) stop excessive menstruation; grind into powder, remove oil, and take with water. *Qianjin Fang* (Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold): Treats halitosis. Grind dried sweet melon seeds into powder, mix with honey to form pills, swallow one pill the size of a jujube pit every morning after rinsing the mouth. It can also be applied to the teeth. Sun Simiao's *Dietary Taboos*: Patients with Hong Kong Foot (Jiaoxie/foot rot) should not eat sweet melons, as the condition will become chronic and incurable; melons that sink in water are lethal. Furthermore, excessive consumption causes yellowing and gallbladder disease, triggers cold ailments, leads to emaciation, and counteracts medicinal efficacy. Sweet melons with two stalks clear heat and relieve irritability and thirst. Peel the sweet melon and eat it after meals; cooking the peel into soup is also excellent.

*Yanyi* states: Sweet melon, when taken during summer months, prevents heatstroke, but excessive consumption invariably causes diarrhea. Poor people who consume it excessively may develop dysentery by late autumn, which is difficult to treat, because it depletes Yang Qi. It can also be preserved by decocting and soaking like white sweet melons.

(Bitter Melon / Cucumber Leaves) Taste bitter, nature neutral, slightly toxic. Primarily treats pediatric Shan Pi (a pediatric disorder involving stagnation or hernia). For one-year-old children, administer more than one leaf, adjusting the dosage appropriately. Fresh cucumber juice induces vomiting and purgation when ingested. Crushed roots applied externally treat toxic swelling caused by thorn pricks. The fruit tastes sweet, is cold in nature, and is toxic. Do not consume excessively, as it triggers alternating chills and fever, increases susceptibility to malaria, accumulates stasis-heat, induces Zhu Qi (infectious wasting disease), causes deficiency-heat, qi rebellion with shortness of breath, triggers various diseases including sores and scabies, damages Yin blood vessels and Qi, and induces Jiaoxie (foot rot). Do not consume after epidemic fevers; strictly forbidden for children, as it slips the intestines and generates Ganchong (pediatric malnutrition parasites). Do not consume with vinegar. Northerners also call it Huanggua (Cucumber); due to the taboo against the name of Shi Le, the name was retained unchanged. The above two types (newly supplemented) are found in *Qianjin Fang*, Meng Shen, Chen Cangqi, and Ri Hua Zi.

The detailed content of *Tujing Bencao* is recorded under the entry for "Gua Di".

*Qianjin Fang*: Treats Sui Shui Bing (Marrow Water Disease) causing abdominal distension extending to limb edema. Take one cucumber, split into two halves, remove seeds, boil half in vinegar and half in water until soft, consume on an empty stomach...