Introduction of Lù Lù Tōnɡ: Beautiful Sweetgum Fruit
✵The article records the herb Beautiful Sweetgum Fruit, including its English name, Latin name, Pinyin name, properties and flavor, botanical source—namely the single plant species Liquidambar formosana Hance—and a detailed description of its botanical features, growth characteristics, ecological environment, macroscopic characteristics, pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guidelines.
Fructus Liquidambaris (Beautiful Sweetgum Fruit)
Pinyin Name: Lù Lù Tōnɡ
English Name: Beautiful Sweetgum Fruit
Latin Name:Fructus Liquidambaris Properties and Flavor: Neutral; bitter
Brief Introduction:Fructus Liquidambaris is the dried, mature, strobile-like infructescence of Liquidambar formosana Hance., used to (1) promote diuresis for edema, (2) dispel wind-damp in arthralgia, and (3) regulate menstruation in amenorrhea. It is commonly known as Fructus Liquidambaris, Beautiful Sweetgum Fruit, or Lù Lù Tōnɡ.
Botanical Source: Classical herbal works define Fructus Liquidambaris (Beautiful Sweetgum Fruit) as the dried infructescence of Liquidambar formosana Hance., a deciduous tree belonging to the genus Liquidambar, family Hamamelidaceae, order Saxifragales. This widely used species is described below:
(1) Liquidambar formosana Hance.
Botanical Description: Commonly known as Formosan sweetgum or Fēng Xiāng Shù, Liquidambar formosana is a deciduous tree reaching 20–40 m in height, with a diameter at breast height (DBH) up to 1 m. The bark is grayish-brown (taupe), exfoliating in square flakes. Young branches are gray, pubescent, and slightly lenticellate. Buds are ovoid, ~1 cm long, sparsely pilose, with scaly bracts coated in resin that turn brownish-black and glossy upon drying. Leaves are alternate, thinly coriaceous, broadly ovate, and palmately 3-lobed; juvenile and lateral branch leaves are often palmately 5-lobed, measuring 6–12 cm in length and 8–15 cm in width. Lobes are ovate-triangular or elliptic, with caudate-acuminate apices, cordate bases, serrulate margins, and glandular teeth.
Flowers are unisexual and monoecious, achlamydeous (lacking perianth). Male flowers are pale yellowish-green, arranged in slender, pendulous catkins (racemes) at branch tips; each flower bears numerous stamens with filaments of unequal length. Female flowers are aggregated into spherical, sessile capitula (flower heads); each has five subulate calyx teeth; the ovary is semi-inferior, bilocular, with two styles and curved stigmas.
The infructescence is a globose, multiple fruit (strobile-like), 2.5–4.5 cm in diameter, covered with persistent, spinous calyx teeth and beaked styles (~0.5–1 mm long). Each carpel dehisces along two valves, each valve bifid. Seeds are numerous, minute, flattened, and wingless. Flowering occurs from March to April; fruiting from September to October.
Ecological Environment:Liquidambar formosana grows in evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved forests of mountainous regions, typically at elevations of 100–1,500 m.
Growth Characteristics:Liquidambar formosana thrives in moist, well-drained, fertile soils—especially deep loams—and prefers full sun to partial shade. It is moderately cold-tolerant but sensitive to waterlogging.
Characteristics of the Herb:Fructus Liquidambaris is a syncarp—a collective fruit composed of numerous fused, woody capsules. The infructescence is globose, 2–3 cm in diameter, with a grayish-brown to tan (chocolate-brown) surface bearing persistent, spinous calyx teeth and beak-like styles (~0.5–1 mm long), often broken or bent. After removal of these appendages, numerous honeycomb-like pits remain. A cylindrical, often broken, peduncle (3–4.5 cm long) persists at the base, sometimes reduced to a scar. The apex of each capsule is dehiscent, forming a hollow, star-shaped opening; immature seeds are minute, rounded (~1 mm diameter), yellowish-brown to tan; mature seeds are rare, flattened-oblong, wingless, brown, lightweight, and hard. The herb is dense and difficult to fracture. It possesses a mild, balsamic fragrance and a bland to slightly bitter taste. High-grade herb material is large, uniformly yellowish-brown, free of mud or stalk remnants, and sessile (has no fruit stalk).
Medicinal Efficacy: Promotes circulation in the channels and collaterals, dispels wind-damp, resolves damp retention, regulates menstruation, and promotes lactation. Indicated for wind-damp bi syndrome (e.g., arthralgia, limb numbness, muscular rigidity), epigastric pain, edema, abdominal distension and fullness, amenorrhea, postpartum insufficient lactation, carbuncles, abscesses, anal fistula, scabies, and eczema.[I]
Administration of Fructus Liquidambaris (Lù Lù Tōnɡ):
Reference:
Administration Guide of Fructus Liquidambaris (Lù Lù Tōnɡ)
TCM Books:
(1) Internally: 5~9 grams; (2) Internally:water decoction, 1~2 qian (about 3~6 grams), or charred the herb with its property retained, prepare to finely ground herb powder.Externally:charred the herb with its property retained, prepare to finely ground herb powder and apply stick, or burn with smoke and smell it; (3) Internally:water decoction, 3~10 grams,or charred the herb with its property retained, prepare to finely ground herb powder and take.Externally:proper amount,prepare to finely ground herb powder and apply stick, or burn with smoke and smell it.
Precautions and Adverse Reactions:should avoid using the herb Fructus Liquidambaris during pregnancy.
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1.Introduction of Lù Lù Tōnɡ: Beautiful Sweetgum Fruit
✵The article records the herb Beautiful Sweetgum Fruit, including its English name, Latin name, Pinyin name, properties and flavor, botanical source—namely the single plant species Liquidambar formosana Hance—and a detailed description of its botanical features, growth characteristics, ecological environment, macroscopic characteristics, pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guidelines.
Pinyin Name: Lù Lù Tōnɡ
Botanical Description: Commonly known as Formosan sweetgum or Fēng Xiāng Shù, Liquidambar formosana is a deciduous tree reaching 20–40 m in height, with a diameter at breast height (DBH) up to 1 m. The bark is grayish-brown (taupe), exfoliating in square flakes. Young branches are gray, pubescent, and slightly lenticellate. Buds are ovoid, ~1 cm long, sparsely pilose, with scaly bracts coated in resin that turn brownish-black and glossy upon drying. Leaves are alternate, thinly coriaceous, broadly ovate, and palmately 3-lobed; juvenile and lateral branch leaves are often palmately 5-lobed, measuring 6–12 cm in length and 8–15 cm in width. Lobes are ovate-triangular or elliptic, with caudate-acuminate apices, cordate bases, serrulate margins, and glandular teeth.
Flowers are unisexual and monoecious, achlamydeous (lacking perianth). Male flowers are pale yellowish-green, arranged in slender, pendulous catkins (racemes) at branch tips; each flower bears numerous stamens with filaments of unequal length. Female flowers are aggregated into spherical, sessile capitula (flower heads); each has five subulate calyx teeth; the ovary is semi-inferior, bilocular, with two styles and curved stigmas.
Ecological Environment: Liquidambar formosana grows in evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved forests of mountainous regions, typically at elevations of 100–1,500 m.
Characteristics of the Herb: Fructus Liquidambaris is a syncarp—a collective fruit composed of numerous fused, woody capsules. The infructescence is globose, 2–3 cm in diameter, with a grayish-brown to tan (chocolate-brown) surface bearing persistent, spinous calyx teeth and beak-like styles (~0.5–1 mm long), often broken or bent. After removal of these appendages, numerous honeycomb-like pits remain. A cylindrical, often broken, peduncle (3–4.5 cm long) persists at the base, sometimes reduced to a scar. The apex of each capsule is dehiscent, forming a hollow, star-shaped opening; immature seeds are minute, rounded (~1 mm diameter), yellowish-brown to tan; mature seeds are rare, flattened-oblong, wingless, brown, lightweight, and hard. The herb is dense and difficult to fracture. It possesses a mild, balsamic fragrance and a bland to slightly bitter taste. High-grade herb material is large, uniformly yellowish-brown, free of mud or stalk remnants, and sessile (has no fruit stalk).
Pharmacological Actions: (1) Hepatoprotective effect: exhibits significant anti-hepatocytotoxic activity.
(2) Anti-inflammatory effect.
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