What it is:
This herb is the skinned ripe seed of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. (family Nym-phaeaceae), which isproduced principallyin Hunan, Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiangprovinces. It is collected in autumn,dried in the sun after removing the seed skin,and crushedfor use.

Property:
Sweet and astringent in flavour, neutral in property, acting on the spleen,kidneyand heart channels.

Effects:
Invigo-rating the spleen torelieve diarrhea, tonifying the kidneyto arrest seminal emission, and nouri-shing the heart to tranquilize the mind.

Used for:
1. For the treat-ment of chronic diarrhea and poor appetite due to deficiency of the spleen, it is often used together with ginseng, white atractylodes rhizome,poria and chinese yam,as in Powder of Gin-seng, Poria and WhiteAtractylodes (Shen Ling Baizhu San).

2. For treating seminal emission andspermatorrhea due to deficiency of thekidney, it is oftenused with flat stemmil- vetch seed, dragon's bone and oyster shell, as in Golden Lock Pill of Keeping the Kidney Essence( Jinsuo Gujing Wan).

3. To relieve symptoms like rest-lessness due to deficiency fright-induced palpitation and insomnia, it is used with wild jujubeseed, polygala root ,poria and other drugs. Besides, it can beused for the treat-ment of metrorrhagia,metrostaxis, leu-korrhagia, etc.

Dosage and admi-nistration: 6- 15g,decocted in water for an oral dose.

Precautions:
Lotus seed should not be used in cases of constipation.