Cnidium Fruit – 1 lb (454 g)

Cnidium Fruit, known in Chinese as 蛇床子 (Shéchuángzǐ) and scientifically as Fructus Cnidii, is a valued herb in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This TCM herb has been traditionally used to support natural wellness, maintain vitality, and encourage holistic balance. At TCMforyou.com, we provide premium-quality Cnidium Fruit carefully sourced to preserve its therapeutic properties.

As a herbal supplement, Cnidium Fruit helps promote overall well-being and supports natural energy, immunity, and balance. Integrating this herb into your wellness routine offers a gentle, time-tested approach to enhancing daily health. Whether brewed as tea, added to herbal remedies, or taken as part of a TCM formula, Cnidium Fruit provides a safe, natural way to experience the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine.

Trusted for centuries, Cnidium Fruit has been used in TCM to harmonize the body and encourage optimal functioning of key systems. At TCMforyou, we prioritize authenticity and quality. Each batch undergoes rigorous testing to ensure purity and potency, delivering an herbal product aligned with traditional practices.

Experience the natural support of Cnidium Fruit, promoting immune health, vitality, and holistic well-being. Embrace the wisdom of TCM and incorporate this gentle, effective herbal remedy into your daily wellness journey.

[Overview] This herb is also known as Shemi, Shechuangren, Shuangshenzi, and Shesu. It is the mature fruit of Cnidium monnieri (L.) Cuss., a plant of the Apiaceae family. It is mainly produced in Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan provinces, and also found in Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. The fruit is harvested in summer and autumn when mature by picking the fruit or cutting the aerial parts, drying them in the sun, threshing to remove the fruit, then sieving or winnowing to remove impurities.

[Properties] The taste is acrid and bitter; the nature is warm with slight toxicity. It enters the Kidney meridian.

[Actions] Warms the Kidney and strengthens Yang; dries dampness and kills parasites; dispels wind and relieves itching.

[Applications]
1. Used for male impotence due to Kidney Yang deficiency and female infertility due to uterine cold; can be combined with Cuscuta, Schisandra, Cinnamon, etc. For impotence without fertility, it can be combined with Angelica, Lycium, Epimedium, Cistanche, etc., as in the formula Zanyu Dan (赞育丹).
2. Used for cold-damp vaginal discharge or cold pain in the lumbar and knees. For women with cold-damp vaginal discharge, it can be combined with deer antler gelatin, Cornus, Plantago seed, etc.; for Kidney deficiency with cold-damp lumbar and knee pain, it is often combined with Morinda, Eucommia, Drynaria, Angelica pubescens, etc.
3. Used for vulvar damp itching, eczema, and scabies. For female vulvar itching and male scrotal damp itching, it can be used alone or combined with alum, Sophora flavescens, Phellodendron, etc., decocted for external washing; for eczema and scabies, it can be used alone as a decoction for external washing, or ground into powder for external application or made into an oil preparation for topical use; it can also be combined with potassium alum, Sophora flavescens, Phellodendron, borax, etc., ground into powder and mixed with oil for external application.

[Dosage and Administration] Internal use: decoction, 3–10 g. External use: appropriate amount, decoction for washing; or ground powder for external application; or made into ointments, creams, or suppositories for external use.

[Cautions] Contraindicated in cases of damp-heat in the lower burner or when the ministerial fire is hyperactive causing instability of essence and qi.

[Modern Research]
1. Chemical Constituents: Fructus Cnidii contains volatile oil, whose main components are camphorene, α- and β-pinene, camphene, isoborneol, bornyl acetate, etc. It also contains coumarin compounds such as osthol, imperatorin, methyl eugenol, bergapten, isopimpinellin, and xanthotoxin. Additionally, it contains palmitic acid and β-sitosterol.
2. Pharmacological Effects: The aqueous extract of Fructus Cnidii has antiarrhythmic effects; osthol inhibits cardiac function, lowers peripheral resistance, and reduces blood pressure; osthol also inhibits Ba2+-induced spontaneous electrical activity, decreases the amplitude of high K+ depolarization slow response action potentials (APA) and the maximum upstroke velocity (Vmax), shortens 50% action potential duration (APD50), prolongs 90% action potential duration (APD90), and inhibits sinoatrial node dominant pacemaker cells’ sinus cycle length (SCL), APA, and Vmax in isolated rabbit hearts. The extract prolongs copulation period and shortens refractory period, exhibits androgen-like effects, increasing weights of mouse prostate, seminal vesicles, and levator ani muscle; it inhibits Trichophyton, Aspergillus, and Microsporum species; total coumarins have direct bronchodilatory effects on guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle and expectorant effects.
3. Clinical Reports: 1) Anti-asthma: Using Fructus Cnidii coumarins 80 mg per dose, three times daily, treating 118 cases of bronchial asthma and asthmatic bronchitis in acute phase, with a total effective rate of 87.3%. [Chinese Herbal Medicine, 1988, 19(9):410] 2) Scabies: Using 250 g each of Fructus Cnidii and Stemona root to prepare a tincture, applied twice daily; treating 142 cases, with 108 cured, 30 markedly effective, 4 ineffective, total effective rate 96.9%. [Zhejiang Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1990, (1):18]