Round Cardamom Fruit

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Transforms dampness and moves qi - Bai Dou Kou is a classic aromatic herb for heavy, stagnant middle-burner patterns with bloating, chest oppression, and poor appetite.
• Warms the Stomach and stops vomiting - it is especially useful when cold-damp or turbid dampness causes nausea, retching, or epigastric fullness.
• Opens the middle burner and improves digestion - its fragrant volatile oils are traditionally used when food sits heavily and the patient feels no hunger.
• Treats early damp-warmth with damp predominance - it appears in formulas when heaviness, chest stuffiness, and lack of appetite are more prominent than high fever.

Secondary Actions

• Bai Dou Kou is traditionally crushed and added near the end of decoction so its aromatic oils are not boiled away.
• It should be distinguished from the harsher Cao Dou Kou, the aromatic digestive Sha Ren, and the unrelated spice nutmeg, because the TCM functions overlap only partially.

Classic Formulas

• San Ren Tang - classic damp-warmth formula using Bai Dou Kou with Xing Ren and Yi Yi Ren when dampness obstructs the upper and middle burner.
• Damp-obstruction digestive formulas pair Bai Dou Kou with Huo Xiang, Chen Pi, or Sha Ren for nausea, poor appetite, and epigastric fullness.
• Cold-damp middle-burner formulas combine it with Hou Po, Gan Jiang, or Cang Zhu when the Stomach is heavy, cool, and vomiting-prone.

Classical References

• Ming Yi Bie Lu records Dou Kou among the aromatic digestive herbs, and later materia medica distinguishes the imported round-cardamom types from rougher cardamom relatives.
• Traditional herbology consistently emphasizes that Bai Dou Kou is warm and fragrant but should be added late or taken as powder to preserve effectiveness.