What it is:
This herb is the seed of Prunus humilis Bge., Prunus japonica Thunb., or Prunus tomentesa Thunb. (Family Rosaceae), produced mostly in Hebei, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia. The herb is collected in autumn. The hard shell is crushedl, and dried in sunlight. The seed should be broken before using.

Property:
Flavour and channel tropism: pungent and bitter in flavour, neutral in property, acing on the large intestine, small intestine and spleen channels.

Effects:
Moistening the bowels to relieve constipation and inducing diuresis to eliminate edema.

Used For:
1. For constipation due to serious insufficiency of body fluid and dryness of the intestines, it is often used with bitter apricot kernel and arborvitae seed, as in Pill of Kernels of Five herbs (Wuren Wan).

2. For edema with ascites, or edema due to beriberi, and difficulty in mictu- rition, it is often used with mulberry bark and red bean, as in Decoction of Bush-cherry seed (YulirenTang).