与草果实有不同。产闽之建宁者。形似龙眼而微长微锐。其皮黄白而薄。有峭棱如
栀子。无鳞甲。中子连缀。大如缩砂。其气辛香芳烈而和者是。若产于滇广气猛而浊者。即
呼草果。
气味微苦而辛。微香性热。阳也。浮也。入足太阴阳明经。除寒燥湿。开郁行滞。主温
中。治一切冷气心腹痛。去客寒心与胃痛。健脾消食。止霍乱呕吐。治瘴疠寒疟泄痢。噎膈
痞满。痰饮积聚。方书治喘泄不能食胀满。螈 。黄胆。腰痛着痹。香港脚滞下。疝。草豆蔻
极辛而温。调散冷气甚速。（宗 ）主散中土之寒。并寒之化湿以为郁滞者。凡风寒客邪在
胃口之上。当心作疼者。宜煨熟用之。（东垣）能散滞气。消膈上痰。惟明知身受寒邪。口
食寒物。胃脘作疼。方可用之温散。或湿痰郁结而成病者亦效。若热郁不可用。必需栀子之
剂。（丹溪）虚弱不能饮食者。宜与木瓜乌梅缩砂益智曲柏甘草生姜同用。（宗 ）用草豆蔻
治中脘冷疼。鲜有得其真者。市家多以草仁假代。安获奇功。（嘉谟）总论详前
草果
草蔻之产滇黔南粤者。气猛而浊。俗呼草果。其形长大如诃子。其皮黑浓（紧浓而黑皱。
异于草蔻之黄白而薄。）而棱密。其子大粒成团。其性甚烈。其气辛臭。正如斑蝥之气。合
诸药同煎。气独薰鼻。
主治善破瘴疠。消谷食。及一切宿食停滞作胀闷及痛。（仲淳）性最辛烈。虽专消导。
而大耗脾胃之元阳。老弱虚羸切戒之。（嘉谟）草果亦有适宜于所患之证者。方书用治疟气
水肿胀满。霍乱中暑。虚劳积聚。痰饮呕吐。反胃。咳嗽血。蓄血胁痛。消瘅泄泻滞下。或
臣或佐。大者俱兼补益而行。与知母同用。治瘴疟寒热。取其一阴一阳无偏胜之害。盖草果
治太阴独胜之寒。知母治阳明独胜之火也。气虚瘴疟。热少寒多。或单寒不热。或虚热不寒。
（参此则
果仁熟附子等分。生姜七片。枣一枚。水一盏。煎半盏服。果附汤。治脾寒疟。大便泄而小
便多不能食者。即上方。脾肾不足。虚寒泄泻。草果仁一两。同舶茴香一两炒香。去茴不用。
吴茱萸
去萸
二方一则气虚。一则脾肾不足。玩其各用辅翼之味。则知所以用草果矣。
与草果的果实有所不同。产于福建建宁的草豆蔻，形状像龙眼但稍长且尖端微锐。它的皮呈黄白色且薄，有像栀子那样的棱角，没有鳞片状的外壳。中间的种子相互连接，大小如同缩砂仁（白豆蔻）。气味辛香、芳烈而温和。如果是产于云南和广东地区的，气味猛烈而浑浊，就称为草果。
气味微苦而辛，微香，性热，属阳，药势上浮。归足太阴脾经和足阳明胃经。能驱除寒邪、燥湿，开通郁结、行气导滞。主治温中散寒，治疗各种冷气引起的心腹疼痛，去除客寒导致的心痛和胃痛，健脾消食，止霍乱呕吐，治疗瘴疠、寒疟、泄痢，以及噎膈、痞满、痰饮积聚等症。医方书籍中还用于治疗喘促、泄泻、不能进食、胀满、抽搐、黄疸、腰痛着痹、香港脚、痢疾、疝气等。草豆蔻极辛而温，调理消散冷气非常迅速。（李杲/东垣观点）主要疏散中焦脾胃之寒，以及因寒导致湿气化为郁滞的情况。凡是风寒客邪停留在胃口之上，导致心窝处疼痛的，适宜煨熟后使用。（李杲/东垣观点）能疏散滞气，消除膈上的痰饮。只有明确知道患者身体受寒邪侵袭，或食用了寒凉食物导致胃脘疼痛时，才可以使用它来温散。如果是湿痰郁结而成的病证也有效。如果是热郁证则不可用，必须配合栀子的方剂。（朱震亨/丹溪观点）对于虚弱不能饮食的患者，适宜与木瓜、乌梅、缩砂仁、益智仁、神曲、柏子仁、甘草、生姜同用。（李杲/东垣观点）用草豆蔻治疗中脘冷痛，很少有人能得到真正的疗效。市场上商家多以草仁假冒替代，怎能获得奇效呢？（嘉谟观点）总论详见前文。
草果：
产于云南、黔南、南粤等地的草蔻，气味猛烈而浑浊，俗称草果。其形体长大如诃子，皮色黑厚（紧实浓黑且起皱纹，不同于草蔻的黄白而薄），棱角密集。种子大粒成团，性质非常猛烈，气味辛臭，正如斑蝥的气味一样。与其他药物同煎时，其气味单独熏鼻。
主治善于破除瘴疠之气，消化谷食，以及一切宿食停滞引起的胀闷和疼痛。（陈实功/仲淳观点）性质最辛烈，虽然专门用于消导，但会大量耗损脾胃的元阳，年老体弱及虚瘦者务必禁忌。（嘉谟观点）草果也有适合其所患证候的时候。医方书籍中用它治疗疟疾、水肿胀满、霍乱中暑、虚劳积聚、痰饮呕吐、反胃、咳嗽咯血、蓄血胁痛、消渴泄泻、痢疾等。作为臣药或佐药使用时，大多兼有补益作用并配合行气药。与知母同用，可治疗瘴疟寒热往来，取其一阴一阳、无偏胜危害之意。因为草果治疗太阴经独盛的寒邪，而知母治疗阳明经独盛的火邪。对于气虚导致的瘴疟，表现为热少寒多，或单寒不热，或虚热不寒的情况，可用此法。（参看以下方剂）取草果仁与熟附子等分，生姜七片，大枣一枚，水一盏，煎至半盏服用。此为“果附汤”，治疗脾寒疟疾，大便泄泻而小便频多、不能进食者，即上方。适用于脾肾不足、虚寒泄泻的情况。草果仁一两，同舶茴香一两炒香，去掉茴香不用。
吴茱萸：
去萸肉部分。
上述两个方剂，一个针对气虚，一个针对脾肾不足。观察它们各自使用的辅助配伍药物，就可以明白为什么要这样使用草果了。
Differs from the fruit of Cao Guo (Tsaoko). Those produced in Jianning, Fujian, resemble Longan but are slightly longer and sharper at the tip. The peel is yellowish-white and thin, with ridges like Gardeniae Fructus (Gardenia), lacking scales or armor. The seeds inside are connected, as large as Suansha (Bai Doukou). Its aroma is pungent, fragrant, intense yet harmonious. If produced in Yunnan and Guangdong, where the qi is fierce and turbid, it is called Cao Guo (Tsaoko).
The taste is slightly bitter and pungent, slightly fragrant, nature hot, belonging to Yang, floating. It enters the Foot Taiyin Spleen and Foot Yangming Stomach meridians. It dispels cold, dries dampness, opens depression, moves stagnation, warms the middle jiao, treats all types of cold qi causing heart and abdominal pain, removes exogenous cold causing heart and stomach pain, strengthens the spleen, promotes digestion, stops cholera-like vomiting, treats miasma pestilence, cold malaria, diarrhea and dysentery, yige (dysphagia), piman (fullness), phlegm-fluid retention, and accumulation. Medical texts also treat wheezing, diarrhea, inability to eat, distension, convulsions, jaundice, lower back pain with fixed bi-syndrome, Hong Kong foot (podagra), dysentery, and hernia. Caodoukou is extremely pungent and warm; it regulates and disperses cold qi very rapidly. (Li Dongyuan) It mainly disperses cold in the middle jiao, and dampness transformed into stagnation due to cold. Whenever wind-cold pathogenic factors lodge above the stomach opening, causing pain in the epigastrium, it is suitable to use after baking. (Li Dongyuan) It can disperse stagnant qi and eliminate phlegm above the diaphragm. Only when it is clearly known that the body has been invaded by cold pathogens or cold food has been consumed, causing stomach pain, can it be used for warming and dispersing. It is also effective for diseases caused by damp-phlegm stagnation. However, it cannot be used for heat stagnation; formulas containing Gardeniae Fructus (Gardenia) are necessary instead. (Zhu Danxi) For those who are weak and unable to eat, it should be used together with Chaenomelis Fructus (Qu木瓜), Mume Fructus (Wumei), Amomi Fructus Rotundus (Suansha), Alpiniae Oxyphyllae Fructus (Yizhi), Fermented Grain (Qu), Plagiotrichi Semen (Baizi), Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (Gancao), and Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens (Shengjiang). (Li Dongyuan) Using Caodoukou to treat cold pain in the Zhongwan area rarely yields true results. Market vendors often substitute it with false Caoren, how could one expect miraculous effects? (Jiamo) General discussion detailed previously.
Cao Guo (Tsaoko):
Caokou produced in Yunnan, Southern Guizhou, and Southern Guangdong has a fierce and turbid qi, commonly called Cao Guo. Its shape is large and long like Chezi (Terminalia chebula). The peel is black and thick (tight, dense, black, and wrinkled, differing from the yellowish-white and thin peel of Caodoukou), with dense ridges. The seeds are large grains forming clusters. Its nature is extremely fierce, its odor pungent and foul, exactly like the odor of Mylabris (Banmao). When decocted with other herbs, its odor alone assaults the nose.
Its main efficacy is good at breaking up miasma pestilence, digesting grain and food, and treating all types of retained food stagnation causing distension, fullness, and pain. (Chen Shigong) Its nature is most pungent and fierce. Although it specializes in digestion and guidance, it greatly depletes the primordial yang of the spleen and stomach. The elderly, weak, and emaciated must strictly avoid it. (Jiamo) Cao Guo is also suitable for certain conditions. Medical texts use it to treat malaria, edema, distension and fullness, cholera, summerheat, deficiency consumption, accumulation, phlegm-fluid vomiting, regurgitation, coughing blood, blood stasis with hypochondriac pain, wasting-thirst, diarrhea, and dysentery. As an assistant or attendant herb, it generally combines tonification with movement. Used together with Anemarrhenae Rhizoma (Zhimu), it treats malarial chills and fever, taking advantage of their yin-yang balance to prevent excess. This is because Cao Guo treats cold dominating the Taiyin, while Zhimu treats fire dominating the Yangming. For qi-deficiency malarial fevers, characterized by less heat and more cold, or only cold without heat, or deficiency-heat without cold... (Refer to this formula) Take equal parts of Caoguo Ren (Tsaoko Seed) and Prepared Aconiti Lateralis Radix (Fuzi), seven slices of Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens (Fresh Ginger), one Jujubae Fructus (Date), one cup of water, decoct until half a cup remains, then take. This is "Guofu Tang," treating spleen-cold malaria with diarrhea, frequent urination, and inability to eat, which is the above formula. It applies to spleen-kidney insufficiency and deficiency-cold diarrhea. One tael of Caoguo Ren, stir-fried with one tael of Badian Fruit (Fennel), remove the fennel before use.
Wuzhuyu:
Remove the calyx.
Regarding the two formulas above, one addresses qi deficiency, the other addresses spleen-kidney insufficiency. Observing the auxiliary flavors used in each reveals why Cao Guo is employed thus.