What it is:
This herb consists of the kernels of Prunus armeniaca L. var. ansu Maxim, or Prunus sibirica L., or Prunus mandshurica (Maxim) Koehne, or Prunus armeniaca L., (family Rosaceae). It is produced mainly in the provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and Shandong. It is collected in summer and dried in sunlight. It is used unprepared, or rid of the pericarp and pointed tip after scalding. Crush it before using it.

Property:
Flavour and channel tropism: bitter in flavour, slightly warm in property, slightly toxic, acting on the lung and large intestine channels.

Effects:
Relieving cough and asthma, moistening the intestines to relax the bowels.

Used for:
1. For a variety of coughs and dyspnea. For cough caused by wind-heat, it is used with mulberry leaf and chrysanthemum flower, as in Decoction of Mulberry Leaf and Chrysanthemum (Sang Ju Yin); for common cold due to wind-cold with cough and dyspnea, it is often used with perilla leaf, as in Apricot Kernel and Perilla Powder (XingSu San); for cough caused by dryness-heat, it is used with mulberry leaf and fritillary bulb, as in Decoction of Mulberry Leaf and Apricot kernel (Sang Xing Tang); for cough due to lung-heat, it is usually used with ephedra, gypsum and liquorice, known as Decoction of Ephedra, Apricot Kernal, Gypsum and Liquorice ( Ma Xing Shi GanTang).

2. For dryness syndrome of the intestines with constipation, it is often used in combination with hemp seed and peach kernel, as in Intestine-moistening Pill (Runchang Wan).

Precautions:
Because this herb has slight toxicity, never take it over dosage. It should be used very cautiously with infants.