What it is:
This herb is theripe fruit of Cratae-gus cuneata Sieb. et Zucc., or Crataeguspinnatifida Bge. var.major N. E. Br.(family Rosaceae). It is produced chiefly in Henan, Jiangsu andShandong provinces.After harvesting inautumn, it is sliced,dried in sunlight,and used unprepared or stir-baked.

Property:
Sour and sweet inflavour,slightly warm in property, acting on the spleen, stomach and liver channels.

Effects:
Improv-ing digestion, remov-ing retention of food, promoting blood cir-culation and resolving blood stasis.

Used for:
1. Indigestion and retention of food man-ifested as abdominal distension, anorexia, abdominal pain and diarrhea. In the treatment of indiges-tion and retention of food due to improperdiet or excessive intake of greasy food or meat, hawthorn fruit is decocted alone for an oral dose, or given withmedicated leaven and germinated barley; in case the above symp-toms are accompanied with abdominal dis-tension and pain, itcan be used along withaucklandia and bitter orange; for relieving diarrhea due to impro-per diet, hawthorn fruit stir-baked to black is ground into powder and mixed with warm water for an oraldose.

2. Postpartumabdominal pain andlochiorrhea due toblood retention.This herb alone isdecocted in water and brown sugar is added to its decoction for an oral dose. It canalso be used together with chinese angelica root, chuanxiong rhi-zome, motherwort and corydalis tuber. In addition, incases of hypertension and hyperlipemia, this herb is used along with cassia seed and sugar to make a "tea" for frequent drink; it can also be used incombination with saf-flower, red sage root and red peony root for the treatment of angina pectoris ofcoronary heart disease.

Dosage andadministration: 10-15g, large dosage being as much as 30-60g, decocted in water for an oral dose. To improve digestion andremove blood stasis, the stir-baked herb is usually used, but for hypertension andhyperlipemia, the unprepared herb is better.