Introduction of Shi Di:Persimmon Calyx or Calyx Kaki.

TCM Herbalism:Medicinals and Classifications. ✵The article gives records of the herb Persimmon Calyx, its English name, Latin name, property and flavor, its botanical source one plant species, ①.Diospyros kaki Thunb., with a detailed introduction to the botanical features of this plant species, the growth characteristics, and ecological environment of this plant species, the features of the herb Persimmon Calyx, its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guide.

Calyx Kaki(Persimmon Calyx).

Calyx Kaki:herb photo Pin Yin Name: Shì Dì.
 English Name: Persimmon Calyx.
 Latin Name: Calyx Kaki.
 Property and flavor: neutral in nature, bitter, puckery.

 Brief introduction: The herb Calyx Kaki is the dried persistent calyx of Diospuros kaki L.f., used to direct Qi downward for stopping hiccups. The herb is commonly known as Calyx Kaki, Persimmon Calyx, Shì Dì.

 Botanical source: Herbal classic book defined the herb Calyx Kaki(Persimmon Calyx) as the dried persistent calyx of the species (1).Diospyros kaki Thunb. It is a plant of the Diospyros Linn genus, the Ebenaceae family (the persimmon or ebony family) of the Ebenales order. This commonly defined species is introduced:

(1).Diospyros kaki Thunb.


 Diospyros kaki Thunb.:tree with fruits Botanical description: The tree is commonly known as Shì. A deciduous large tree, it usually grows up to 10~14 meters or above, chest-high diameter grows up to 65 cm, old trees grow up as high as 27 meters; Bark is dark gray to grey-black, or yellowish-grey-brown to brown, furrow more dense, fissure long square block; Crown is spherical or oblong, an old crown diameter of 10~13 meters, grows up to 18 meters.

 Branches spreading, greenish to brown, glabrous, scattered oblong or narrow oblong lenticels longitudinally cleft; Young shoots are initially arrowed, brown pilose or tomentose or glabrous. Winter buds are small, ovate, 2~3 mm long, apex is obtuse.

 Diospyros kaki Thunb.:tree with fruits Leaves are papery, elliptic to obovate or suborbicular, oval and usually larger, 5~18 cm long, 2.8~9 cm wide, apex is acuminate or obtuse, base is cuneate, blunt, round or nearly cross-sectional shape, rarely to heart-shaped, new leaves are scanty living pilose, old leaves are glossy at the front part, dark green, glabrous, green at the backside, pilose or glabrous, midrib concave on it, has a slightly pilose, raised below, lateral veins are 5-7 on each side, on the flat or slightly concave, slightly convex, below the lower pulse is longer, shorter at upper part, oblique upward, slightly curved, nearly margin net knot, small veins are slender, under the above flat or slightly concave, even form a small mesh; Petiole is 8~20 mm long, glabrous, with shallow groove.

 Diospyros kaki Thunb.:tree with fruits Flowers are dioecious, but occasionally male with a few female flowers, female with a few male flowers, the inflorescence is axillary, cymes; Male inflorescence is small, 1~1.5 cm long, bent, pubescent or tomentose, 3~5 flowered, usually 3 flowered; Pedicels are ca. 5 mm long, minute bracts; Male flowers are small, 5~10 mm long; Calyx campanulate, hairy on both sides, deep 4-lobed, lobes are ovate, ca. 3 mm long, lashes; Corolla is bell-shaped, not twice longer than calyx, yellowish-white, both sides or hairy outside, ca. 7 mm long, 4 cracks, lobes are ovate or cordate, developed, and the two sides have silky hairs or outside ridge long villous, inside is nearly glabrous, apex is obtuse, 16~24 stamens, grow in corolla tube at the base, even generate right, the front one is shorter, filaments are short, apex is pilose, anther is elliptical oblong, apex is acuminate, connectivum back pilose, degradation of ovary small; Pedicels are ca. 3 mm. Female flowers are solitary axillary, ca. 2 cm long, the calyx is green, shiny, ca. 3 cm in diameter or larger, 4 deep cracks, calyx tube is a nearly spherical bell, succulent, ca. 5 mm long, 7~10 mm in diameter, outside is densely villous, with silky hairs inside, lobes, broadly ovate or semicircular, pulse, about 1.5 cm long, two hydrophobic pilose or nearly glabrous, apex is obtuse or pointed, slightly bent behind to roll on both ends; Corolla is yellowish white or yellowish white and purplish red, urn-shaped or nearly campanulate, shorter than calyx, 1.2~1.5 cm long and each in diameter, 4-lobed, corolla tube is nearly 4-rhombic, 6~10 mm in diameter, lobes broadly ovate, 5~10 mm long, 4~8 mm wide, upper part curving outward; 8 stamens, inserted at base of corolla tube, whitish, villous; Ovary is suboblate globose, ca. 6 mm in diameter, many with 4 rows, glabrous or pubescent, 8 locules, ovules 1 per locules; Style is 4-lobed, stigma is 2-lobed; Pedicels are 6~20 mm long, densely pubescent.

 Fruit shape, there are spherical, flat spherical, spherical and slightly square, oval, and so on, the diameter is 3.5 to 8.5 cm, the base is usually edge, green when tender, after turning yellow, orange-yellow, pulp is crisp hard, old when the pulp becomes soft and juicy, orange-red or red, several seeds; Seeds are brown, elliptic, ca. 2 cm long, ca. 1 cm wide, laterally flattened, usually seedless or with few seeds in cultivated varieties; Persistent calyx increases and thickens after flowering, 3~4 cm wide, 4-lobed, square or nearly round, nearly flat, thickly leathery or nearly woody when dry, with a velvety coat on the outside, later becoming glabrous, densely brown sericeous inside, lobes are leathery, 1.5~2 cm wide, 1~1.5 cm long, glabrous on both sides, lustrous; Fruit stalks is stout, 6~12 mm long. Its flowering period is from May to June, the fruiting period is from September to October.

 Diospyros kaki Thunb.:ripe fruits The persimmon tree is a deep-rooted tree species, a positive tree species, it prefers a warm climate, sufficient sunshine and deep, fertile, moist, good drainage soil, suitable for neutral soil, able to bear cold, able to bear barren, drought resistance, not resistant to salt and alkali soil. Most varieties of persimmon trees begin to bear fruit 3~4 years after grafting and reach the full fruiting stage 10~12 years later, while the real trees begin to bear fruit at 5~7 years old and the fruiting age is over 100 years.

 Ecological environment: the tree was native to the Yangtze river basin of China, now it is distributed alongside the Great Wall through the southern Gansu province, into southwest area, in the south of the line, east to Taiwan, are more cultivated. It is also introduced and cultivated in other areas of East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, France, USA (the United States of America), and other areas.

 Persimmon Calyx:herb photo Characters of herbs: The persistent calyx of the herb is nearly disc-shaped, or oblate, with 4-lobed apex, wide triangular lobes, multi-outward rolled or broken incompletely, with longitudinal veins, thickened calyx tube, flat, nearly square, 1.5~2.5 cm in diameter, the surface is reddish-brown, covered with sparse short hairs, there are short stalks or circular concave stalk mark in the center. The inner surface is yellow-brown, densely covered with rust-colored short fluff, radially arranged, shiny, and the center has a scar of a round bulge after the fruit falls off. The lobes are brittle and fragile, and the calyx tube is hard and woody. The herb is light, it has a slight odor and tastes puckery. The herb of better grade is big and thick, the texture of the herb is hard, yellow-brown.

 Pharmacological actions: The extract of the herb Calyx Kaki can resist the mouse ventricular fibrillation and the rat arrhythmia, and has sedative, hypnotic, and anti-rabbit fertility effects.

 Medicinal efficacy: Calm the adverse-rising energy, down bear Qi. It is indicated for hiccups, retching, ructation, regurgitation.

 Administration of Calyx Kaki (Shì Dì): 
 
Reference: Administration Guide of Calyx Kaki (Shì Dì)
TCM Books: ①.Internally:4.5~9 grams; ②.Internally:water decoction, 2~4 qian (about 6~12 grams), or prepare to pill, powder; ③.Internally:water decoction, 5~10 grams, prepared to powder. Externally:proper amount, prepare to ground herb powder, sprinkle apply.

 
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References:
  • 1.Introduction of Shi Di:Persimmon Calyx or Calyx Kaki.

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