Chinese White Olive (Qing Guo or Fructus Canarii)

Chinese White Olive (Qing Guo or Fructus Canarii)

What Is Chinese White Olive

Chinese White Olive is also known as Qing Guo or Fructus Canarii and is the ripe fruit of Canarium album, which is an evergreen tree belonging to the family Burseraceae. It is a relatively practical Chinese herbal medicine, which first appeared in Ri Hua Zi Zhu Jia Ben Cao (Ri Hua-Zi’s Collected Materia Medica) in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-979 CE).

Canarium album is a famous subtropical fruit tree. It is native to southern China and has at least 2000 years of cultivation history. It can be found in China, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, and Malaysia.

This plant is a good windbreak tree and street tree. It can be made into sleepers, furniture, farm tools, and construction materials. Its seeds can be extracted from cooking oil, and its fruits and resin can be made into varnish and soap.

canarium album

In the autumn of each year, people gather the ripe fruits of Canarium album, wash them with water, use them directly, or dry them in the sun, and make them into Chinese herbal medicines.

Chinese White Olive contains amentoflavone, quercetin, inositol, β-sitosterol, gallic acid, pyrogallic acid, o-hydroxybenzoic acid, ellagic acid, ethyl gallate, α-amyrin, β-amyrin, α-amyrin acetate, β-amyrenone and oleanolic acid, coumarins, proteins, fats, sugars, organic acids, volatile oils, and a variety of trace elements.

According to <Compendium of Materia Medica>, the medicinal nature of Chinese White Olive is relatively neutral, with a sweet and sour taste. It has a certain therapeutic effect on the pathological changes of the lung and stomach meridians.

In traditional Chinese medicine, it is often used to clear heat and remove toxins, promote fluid production and relieve sore throat, treat diphtheria, tonsillitis, mumps, mastitis, appendicitis, chronic enteritis, bacillary dysentery, acute inflammatory dermatitis, aphtha, epilepsy, pufferfish poisoning, and alcoholism. It is an important component of Jian Min Yan Hou Pian and Ganju Bingmei Pian.

Benefits

  • Anti-inflammatory, anti-hepatitis B virus, analgesic effects.
  • Anti-oxidation, scavenging hydroxyl radicals, DPPH radicals, and superoxide anions.
  • Inhibiting the activity of alpha-glucosidase and lowering blood sugar and blood lipids.
  • Exciting salivary glands, promoting saliva secretion and digestion.
  • Reducing the damage of CCL4 to liver tissue and protecting the liver.
  • Reducing liver lipid peroxidation damage caused by alcoholism and promoting liver cell recovery.
  • Promoting intestinal peristalsis, accelerating the excretion of ethanol, alleviating the stimulation of ethanol on the gastrointestinal mucosa, and protecting gastrointestinal mucosa.
  • Alleviating poisoning caused by pufferfish consumption.
  • Removing heat toxins, treating sore throat caused by wind-heat or heat toxins.
  • Promoting fluid production and resolving phlegm, treating dry throat, polydipsia, cough, and hoarseness.
  • Inhibiting Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Dysentery bacillus, Aspergillus Niger, and Penicillium.

Combinations

Side Effects

  • Chinese White Olive is an edible fruit in Vietnam, Thailand, and China, with almost no side effects.
  • Excessive consumption of it may cause a sore throat, nausea, or vomiting.

Precautions and Warnings

  • The dosage of Chinese White Olive should be controlled at 4.5-9g.
  • When using fresh Chinese White Olive, the dosage should be controlled at 30-50g.
  • It can be made into decoctions or pills.
  • When making a decoction of Chinese White Olive, you should crush it first.
  • People who are allergic to Chinese White Olive should not take it.
  • People with deficiency-cold in the spleen and stomach should not take it.
  • People with constipation should not take it.