枳實 Trifoliate Orange

Original, read line by line 東醫寶鑑 · Tangaek — Decoctions vol. 3

1. 性寒一云微寒, 味苦酸一云苦辛, 無毒. 主皮膚苦痒. 除痰癖, 消脹滿, 心下痞痛, 消宿食.

   Its nature is cold, though one account calls it slightly cold; its taste is bitter and sour, though one account calls it bitter and pungent, and it is non-toxic. It chiefly treats severe itching of the skin. It removes dam-byeok (痰癖, phlegm accumulation), reduces distension and fullness, and disperses blockage-pain below the heart and undigested food.

   HomiclubJisil is the unripe fruit of the trifoliate orange, picked and dried. The tree is a citrus-family shrub often planted as a hedge, dense with stout thorns and hung with yellow fruit in autumn.

2. 木如橘而小, 葉如棖多刺. 春生白花, 至秋結實. 七八月採, 暴乾.

   The tree is like an orange tree but smaller, its leaves like those of the jeong (棖, bitter orange), and it bears many thorns. White flowers open in spring and fruit sets by autumn. Gather it in the seventh or eighth month and dry it in the sun.

3. 以飜肚, 如盆口脣狀, 須陳久者, 爲勝.

   Those whose belly is turned out like the rim of a jar's mouth, and which must be long aged, are the better sort.

4. 古云, 橘渡淮爲枳. 又云, 江南爲橘, 江北爲枳.

   An old saying holds that when the orange crosses the Hoe River it becomes ji (枳). Another says that south of the river it is an orange and north of the river it is ji.

5. 今江南俱有橘枳, 江北有枳無橘, 此是別種, 非關變也. 《本草》

   Today both orange and ji grow south of the river, while north of it there is ji but no orange; these are separate species, and it has nothing to do with transformation. 《Boncho (本草)》

6. 枳實瀉痰, 有衝墻倒壁之功. 水浸去瓤, 麩炒用. 《入門》

   Jisil purges phlegm, with a force that batters walls and topples partitions. Soak it in water, discard the pith, and stir-roast it with wheat bran for use. 《Immun (入門)》

   HomiclubDiscarding the pith means scraping out the soft inner part after the fruit is split. Roasting with wheat bran is an old way of heating a dry material evenly without scorching it.

7. 枳實不去瓤, 其效更速. 《丹心》

   If the pith of jisil is not removed, its action is even swifter. 《Dansim (丹心)》