Gardenia Fruit – 1 lb (454 g)

Gardenia Fruit, known in Chinese as 栀子 (Zhīzǐ) and scientifically as Fructus Gardeniae, 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 Gardenia Fruit carefully sourced to preserve its therapeutic properties.

As a herbal supplement, Gardenia 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, Gardenia Fruit provides a safe, natural way to experience the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine.

Trusted for centuries, Gardenia 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 Gardenia 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 Mudan, Zhizi, Shanzhizi, Huangzhizi. It is the mature fruit of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, a plant of the Rubiaceae family. It is mainly produced in Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Fujian, and Sichuan provinces, with Hunan having the largest yield and Zhejiang known for superior quality; also produced in Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou. The fruit is harvested from September to November when ripe and yellow, with the stalk and impurities removed, then steamed until steaming or briefly blanched in boiling water, taken out and dried.

[Properties] Bitter in taste, cold in nature. Enters the Heart, Lung, and Sanjiao meridians.

[Actions] Drains fire and relieves vexation, clears heat and promotes urination, cools the blood and detoxifies.

[Applications]
1. Used for febrile diseases with fever. For heat pathogen in the upper jiao qi level, symptoms include fever, chest tightness and vexation, irritability, insomnia; often combined with fermented soybeans (Dou Chi), as in Zhizi Chi Decoction (栀子豉汤). For true heat fire syndrome with high fever, irritability, delirium, often combined with Huanglian, Huangqin, Dahuang, as in Huanglian Jiedu Decoction (黄连解毒汤).
2. Used for liver channel excess fire syndromes. For liver qi stagnation transforming into fire, with chest and hypochondriac distention and pain, bitter taste, yellow coating; often combined with Moutan Cortex, Bupleurum, Peony, as in Dan Zhi Xiao Yao Wan (丹栀逍遥丸). For pediatric liver fire with heat, restlessness at night, convulsions, and a deep, forceful pulse; often combined with Dahuang and Fangfeng, as in Xie Qing Wan (泻青丸). For liver fire rising causing red, swollen, painful eyes; often combined with Dahuang, as in Zhizi Decoction (栀子汤).
3. Used for stomach heat accumulation with dry mouth and lips, mouth ulcers, foul breath, vexation, and hunger; often combined with Gypsum and Agastache, as in Xie Huang San (泻黄散). For stomach heat epigastric pain, stir-fried Gardenia fruit decoction with fresh ginger juice may be used.
4. Used for lung heat cough with dry, painful throat; often combined with Huangqin and Jiegeng, as in Zhilian Qingfei Tang (栀连清肺汤).
5. Used for damp-heat jaundice and painful bloody urinary dribbling. For jaundice caused by damp-heat accumulation in liver and gallbladder, often combined with Yinchen, Dahuang, or Huangbai, as in Yinchen Hao Tang (茵陈蒿汤) and Zhizi Baipi Tang (栀子柏皮汤); currently widely used for acute infectious jaundice-type hepatitis and jaundice caused by biliary diseases. For painful urination and bloody dribbling due to damp-heat sinking downward, often combined with Mutong and Huashi.
6. Used for blood heat vomiting of blood, nosebleed, coughing blood, and hematuria. For vomiting blood due to reckless movement of blood heat, often combined with Baimaogen, Dahuang, and Ce Bai Ye, as in Shi Hui San (十灰散). For nosebleed, combined with Sheng Di or stir-fried Gardenia fruit blown into the nose. For coughing blood due to lung heat, often combined with Qingdai, Baimaogen, and Hezi. For hematuria and painful bloody urination, combined with Sheng Di, Xiao Ji, and Puhuang.
7. Used externally for early-stage sores and ulcers, erysipelas, hemorrhoids; can be ground into powder and applied topically; for internal use often combined with Jinyinhua, Lianqiao, and Pugongying.

[Dosage and Administration] Internal use: decoction, 6–9 g; or incorporated into pills or powders. For clearing heat and draining fire, usually used raw; for hemostasis, often stir-fried until charred. External use: appropriate amount, ground into powder and applied.

[Cautions] Use with caution in cases of spleen deficiency with loose stools and stomach cold.

[Modern Research]
1. Chemical constituents: The fruit contains geniposide, gardenoside, genipin 1-gentiobioside, gentiopicroside, gardenoside ketone, gardenoside acid, deacetylasperulosidic acid, as well as chlorogenic acid, crocetin acid, crocin, ursolic acid, rutin, D-mannitol, β-sitosterol, choline, lutein, etc.
2. Pharmacological actions: Gardenia extracts have hepatoprotective effects and can increase bile secretion in experimental animals; deacetylasperulosidic acid methyl ester has laxative effects; decoction and alcohol extracts have antihypertensive effects, acting centrally by enhancing parasympathetic tone in the medulla oblongata; water and alcohol extracts inhibit Staphylococcus aureus, Neisseria meningitidis, Moraxella catarrhalis, Trichophyton rubrum, inguinal epidermophyton, and erythrasma bacteria.
3. Clinical reports:
1) Pediatric fever: 9 g Gardenia fruit crushed and soaked in 70% ethanol or white liquor for 30–60 minutes; the extract mixed with appropriate flour to make four dough cakes about the size of a 5-cent nickel coin; applied to Yongquan and Neiguan acupoints before sleep and fixed with gauze; removed next day. Treated 60 cases with a total effective rate of 100%. [Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1991, (12):32]
2) Coronary heart disease: 12 g each of Gardenia fruit and peach kernel ground into powder, mixed with 30 g refined honey (or egg white) into a paste; applied to the precordial area and fixed with gauze. Treated 50 cases; after one course, 44 cases improved, including 22 markedly effective and 22 improved; ECG markedly effective in 7 cases, improved in 18, unchanged in 25. [Intermediate Medical Journal, 1981, (4):19]
3) Various pains: 10 g each of Dahuang and Gardenia fruit ground into powder, mixed with castor oil or liquid paraffin plus a few drops of 75% alcohol into a paste; applied to affected area and fixed with gauze; treated 100 cases with good analgesic effect. [Sichuan Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1988, (1):11]
4) Edematous pancreatitis: raw Dahuang 12–20 g, raw Gardenia fruit 12 g, one dose daily, decocted twice, taken in three doses; treated 28 cases, cured 26, effective 2, total effective rate 100%. [Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine, 1999, 19(3):183]
5) Infantile diarrhea: raw Gardenia fruit mashed into a paste, mixed with a small amount of salt, applied externally to the Laogong point on the hand Jueyin pericardium meridian, fixed with gauze and changed every 12 hours until diarrhea stopped; treated 45 cases, 25 cured within 12 hours, 17 within 24 hours, total effective rate 93.3%. [Chinese Community Physician, 2002, (5):31]
6) Postpartum vulvar edema: 100 g Gardenia fruit ground and soaked in 300 ml white liquor for one day; after local disinfection, sterile gauze soaked with Gardenia liquor applied externally; treated 38 cases, cured 25, markedly effective 10, effective 3, total effective rate 100%. [Hubei Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2002, 24(9):25]
7) Soft tissue injury: Gardenia fruit powdered and mixed with appropriate 50% alcohol into a paste, evenly applied on gauze and applied externally, covered with plastic film and bandaged; dressing changed every 2 days; treated 65 cases, most showed effect within 1 hour; 58 of 65 joint sprains cured within 2 weeks (89.2%); 12 of 15 non-joint contusions cured within 4 days (80.0%). [Practical Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2003, 19(1):35]

Additional preparation: Charred Gardenia Fruit (Jiao Zhizi) is a processed product of Gardenia fruit. Clean or crushed Gardenia fruit is stir-fried over low heat until the surface is dark brown or black, with the inner peel and seed surface turning yellow-brown or brown; then cooled to form “Jiao Zhizi.” The properties are similar to raw Gardenia fruit but with enhanced blood-cooling and hemostatic effects, mainly used for blood-heat bleeding such as hematuria and metrorrhagia.