Tetradium ruticarpum


Tetradium ruticarpum is a tree that comes from China and Korea. It was previously classified in the genus Euodia as Euodia ruticarpa. The fruit is usually used, denoted sometimes as fructus. It has a strong bitter taste, and is used in traditional Chinese medicine and is a recognized herb in Kampo. Both the former genus name and the species name are often misspelled, and the plant usually appears in sources dealing with traditional Chinese medicine as "Evodia rutaecarpa".

Production

Cultivation

Tetradium ruticarpum is grown mainly in China.

Harvesting

The fruit is picked. It may be consumed as food.

Traditional medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine

In traditional Chinese medicine the herb is described as a fruit.

Kampo

Tetradium ruticarpum is called 呉茱萸 in Japanese, used in Goshuyu-tou and Unkentou. These are Kampo preparations of mixed herbs, the former named after this plant. The mixture is noted for having a high concentration of antioxidants, where the other constituents of the mixture rank lower.

Contraindications

Allergic reactions have occasionally been reported in users of medicinal preparations of the plant.

Biochemical analysis

There has been relatively little scientific study of Tetradium ruticarpum except for antioxidant capacity of one of its mixtures.
Notable compounds in T. ruticarpum include:
alkaloids:
flavonoids:
In rats, the half-lives of most of these compounds was found to be relatively short, between 0.5 - 2 hours.

Variants

There are a few variants:
  • var. officinalis
  • var bodinieri Huang