Medicinal value of butterfly fruit

Chinese name: Butterfly Fruit

Source: This product is the dried and mature fruit of Acer fabri Hance, a Acer family.

Original plant: Acer rubrum is an evergreen tree, about 1 meters high; Bark light brown or dark gray; The tender branches are purplish red, and the old branches are brownish green. Leaves opposite, leathery, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 6-11 cm long and 2-3 cm wide, tapering at the top, obtuse to broadly wedge-shaped at the base, entire, glabrous on both sides or sometimes with tufts of hairs in the axils of the veins below; Leaf veins are pinnate, with 5 ~ 7 pairs of lateral veins, which are obvious from reticular veins on both sides; The petiole is 1 ~ 1.5 cm long. Panicle born at the top of branch, slightly spreading; Flowers bloom in late spring and early summer, and male and bisexual flowers are the same plant; Calyx 5 pieces, oblong, about 3 mm long, purple, pubescent; Petals 5, white, obovate, slightly shorter than sepals; 8 stamens; Ovary compressed, hairless, superior, 2-loculed, with 2 ovules in each locule; Style 2. Nutlets are spherical, about 5 mm in diameter, with wings 2.5 ~ 3 cm long and 1 ~ 1.2 cm wide, which are spread at an obtuse angle, purplish red when young and yellowish brown when mature.

is born in evergreen broad-leaved forest. Distributed in the Yangtze River basin and its south area.

medicinal properties: this product is slightly butterfly-shaped, consisting of two nutlets with wings, which are splayed at the top of the fruit stalk. A single nutlet is spoon-shaped, yellow or yellow-brown. The seed part is oblate, about 5 mm in diameter, slightly firm, with wings 2.5 ~ 3 cm long, thin leathery, as thin as cicada wings on the upper side, thick on the lower side, and slightly curved transverse veins. No gas, astringent taste, slightly sweet. It is better for the fruit to be fully mature and yellowish brown.

taste and function: slightly bitter, astringent and cool. Clearing heat and benefiting the throat.

function: clearing away heat and benefiting throat. Used for hoarseness, laryngitis and tonsillitis. The dosage is 1 ~ 15g.

extract: national compilation of Chinese herbal medicines.