This product is the fruit stalk of the annual herbaceous vine melon (Cucumis melo L.) of the bottle gourd peel family. It is cultivated throughout the country. During the peak production of melons in summer, the immature fruits are picked, and the fruit stalks are cut off. They are then dried in the shade and used raw.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Bitter, cold, toxic. Act on stomach meridian.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Inducing vomiting of phlegm and retained food, dispelling dampness and reducing jaundice.

bubble_chart Indications

1. It is used for various diseases caused by phlegm-heat stagnation in the chest and retained food stagnation in the stomach. Muskmelon Base has a bitter taste and a cold nature, with the ability to induce vomiting and remove Rebing and retained food. For treating phlegm-heat stagnation in the chest leading to epilepsy or mania, or pharyngitis with wheezing, it can be used alone by grinding into powder and taken orally to induce vomiting. It can also be taken with red bean powder and fermented soybean decoction, such as Muskmelon Base Powder.
2. It is used for dampness-heat jaundice. This product has the effect of removing dampness and reducing jaundice. For treating dampness-heat jaundice, it can be used alone by grinding into powder and blowing into the nose to expel yellow fluid, thereby removing the dampness-heat pathogen and achieving the effect of reducing jaundice. Alternatively, it can be decocted and taken orally, or ground into powder and taken, both of which can reduce jaundice.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing: "Cough with dyspnea, and eating various fruits, the disease is in the chest and abdomen, all vomiting purgation."
2. Bielu: "Treats jaundice."
3. Bencao Gangmu: "Vomits wind-heat phlegm and saliva, treats wind dizziness headache, epilepsy, pharyngitis, dampness in the head and eyes."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct 2.5-5g for oral use; take 0.3-1g each time in pill or powder form. Apply an appropriate amount externally. Discontinue use when the yellow fluid is extracted by grinding into powder.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

It is contraindicated for those with physical weakness, hematemesis, hemoptysis, and no excess pathogens in the upper body. If severe vomiting persists, use 0.015g of musk, infused in boiling water to alleviate it.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product mainly contains bitter components such as cucurbitacin E, cucurbitacin B, and α-spinasterol. When taken internally, cucurbitacin can stimulate the sensory nerve endings of the mucous membrane, reflexively excite the vomiting center, and induce vomiting. Cucurbitacin B and E, as well as cucurbitacin B glucoside, have a significant effect on reducing serum alanine aminotransferase levels in carbon tetrachloride-intoxicated rats and provide some protective effects against liver pathological damage. Cucurbitacin B can increase liver glycogen accumulation, prevent fatty degeneration of liver cells, and inhibit cell fibrosis. Cucurbitacin has cytotoxic effects on human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells and uterine cancer cells, and can induce degeneration in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, solid melanoma, and ascites melanoma cells.