Tsaoko (Caoguo)
Amomum tsao-ko Crevost et Lemaire (Fam. Zingiberaceae)
Pharmaceutical Name: Fructus Amomi Tsaoko
Botanical Name: Amomum tsao-ko Crevost et Lemaire (Fam. Zingiberaceae).
Common Name: Tsaoko, Amomum seed, Caoguo amomum fruit.
Source of Earliest Record: Yinshan Zhenyao.
Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations: The ripe fruit is gathered in autumn and dried in the sun. The seeds are collected after the carbonized fruit is broken into pieces.
Properties & Taste: Pungent and warm.
Meridians: Spleen and stomach.
Functions: 1. To dry dampness and warm spleen and stomach; 2. To relieve malaria
Indications & Combinations:
1. Cold-damp blocking and stagnating spleen and stomach manifested as epigastric and abdominal distension and fullness, cold pain, vomiting and diarrhea. Tsaoko (Caoguo) is used with Atractylodes rhizome (Cangzhu), Magnolia bark (Houpo) and Pinellia tuber (Banxia).
2. For malarial attacks, especially those with syndromes of Pathogenic Cold Dampness, it is used
with Radix Dichroae (Chang Shan), Radix Bupleuri (Chai Hu), and Rhizoma Anemarrhenae (Zhi Mu).
Dosage: 3-6 g, decocted in water for an oral dose.
Precautions: None noted.
