【 Source 】 Winter melon skin is the dried skin of winter melon, a plant in the Cucurbitaceae family.
【 Original Plants 】 Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn. Also known as White Melon or White Melon Peel - an annual climbing herb. The stem is thick and robust, densely covered with yellow brown prickly hairs, and has 2-3 branching tendrils. Leaves alternate, petiole thick and long, leaves 5-7 palmately lobed to the middle, pentagonal broadly ovate or kidney shaped, both length and width 15-30cm, apex pointed, base heart-shaped, margin with fine serrations, both sides with coarse hairs. The flower is monoecious and grows only on the axils of leaves with hard hairs on the flower stems; Calyx tubular, 5-lobed, lobes triangular ovate, recurve, margin dentate; Corolla yellow, 5-lobed to base, outward spreading; Male flowers have 3 stamens, separate filaments, and a curved "S" shaped chamber; The female flower has a cylindrical or oval shaped ovary, densely covered with yellow brown long hairs, and a stigma of 3. The fruit is large, long cylindrical or nearly spherical, measuring 25-60cm in length and 18-35cm in diameter. The skin is light green, with hairs and white powder. The seeds are mostly ovate in shape, white or yellow white, flattened, and have narrow wings. The flowering period is from May to June. The fruiting period is from July to September.
Habitat distribution: Tailored training is available throughout the country.
When eating winter melon, wash it thoroughly, peel off the outer layer of the fruit skin, and dry it in the sun.
The medicinal herb has irregular fragments that often curl inward and vary in size. Gray green or yellow white, covered with white frost, some are smoother but not covered with white frost; The inner surface is relatively rough, and some have visible vein like vascular bundles. Lightweight and brittle in texture. Odorless and mild in taste.
[Processing and Decoction Pieces] Remove impurities, wash, cut into pieces or wide shreds, and dry in the sun.
[Sexual Taste Function] Sweet taste, cool nature. Has the functions of clearing heat, diuresis, and reducing swelling
【 Indications 】 Used for swelling and fullness, difficulty urinating, heat induced thirst, and short, red urine. The dosage is 9~30g.