Ming herbal (painting): Longan

Unknown artist

Lettering: Longan (longyan, Dimocarpus longan) is indicated for nourishing the blood, calming the mind and enhancing the intellect, astringing perspiration, dispelling parasitic toxins (gudu), removing malign Qi from the five viscera, stimulating the appetite, and replenishing the spleen. For unweaned infants who will not take food. The powdered peel is used as a salve for incised wounds, which heal extremely rapidly. The leaves are sun-dried and ground to powder, and applied, for children, to the seven-star location. When the child comes out in a pox, there will only be a few lesions; and it also dispels foetal poisons [which are expressed in the infant as skin conditions, etc.]. It is most efficacious if seven leaves(?) are also administered to the child. The kernels are ground to make a powdered medicine which is used to treat goitre.