Fo Shou – Citrus Sarcodactylus – Fructus Citri Sarcodactylis

Fo Shou

English Name: finger citron, citrus sarcodactylus

Pharmaceutical Name: Fructus Citri Sarcodactylis

Medica Category: Qi-Regulating Herbs

Properties: Fo Shou enters the Liver, Lung, Stomach, and Spleen channels; it is acrid and bitter in nature and warm in temperature.

What is Fo Shou?:

The Chinese Herb Fo Shou is the dried fruit of the fingered citron (aka Buddha’s Hand—Citrus medica L. var. sarcodactylis Swingle), an unusually shaped variety of citron native to East Asia.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of Fo Shou:

Fo Shou spreads Liver qi without drying or consuming yin and addresses mild hypochondriac and abdominal pain from this cause. It is stronger in its action to relieve nausea and vomiting from qi stagnation in the Spleen and Stomach.

Fo Shou has a mild effect to dissolve phlegm in the Lungs and can be used in formula to relieve chronic cough with phlegm accumulation as a component.