Watermelon is a name used in traditional Chinese medicine. It refers to the pulp of the fruit of Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. et Nakai [C. vulgaris Schrad. ex Eckl. et Zeyh.], a plant in the genus Citrullus of the Cucurbitaceae family. It has the effects of clearing heat, promoting urination, relieving summer heat, and promoting fluid production.It is primarily used to treat summer heat-induced restlessness and thirst, severe heat with fluid depletion, and difficulty urinating; as well as sore throat and mouth ulcers.
Watermelon
Watermelon is a name used in traditional Chinese medicine. It refers to the pulp of the fruit of Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. et Nakai [C. vulgaris Schrad. ex Eckl. et Zeyh.], a plant in the genus Citrullus of the Cucurbitaceae family. It has the effects of clearing heat, promoting urination, relieving summer heat, and promoting fluid production.It is primarily used to treat summer heat-induced restlessness and thirst, severe heat with fluid depletion, and difficulty urinating; as well as sore throat and mouth ulcers.
Chinese Name : 西瓜
Aliases : Cold Melon, Tian Sheng Bai Hu Decoction
Nature, Flavor & Meridian Tropism : Taste: sweet; Nature: cold; Enters the Heart, Stomach, and Bladder meridians
Benefits & Efficacy
Benefits
Clears heat, promotes urination, relieves summer heat, and promotes fluid production.
Indications
Summer heat with restlessness and thirst, excessive heat causing fluid depletion, and difficulty urinating; sore throat and mouth ulcers.
Usage and Dosage
Internal use: Drink the juice; or eat as fruit.
Precautions
Contraindicated for those with severe internal cold and dampness.
Chemical Constituents
1. Watermelon juice contains the following amino acids: citrulline, α-amino-β-(1-imidazolyl)propionic acid, alanine, α-aminobutyric acid, γ-aminobutyric acid, glutamic acid, arginine, phosphoric acid, malic acid, ethylene glycol, betaine, adenine,fructose, glucose, sucrose, vitamins A, B2, and C, β- and γ-carotene, lycopene, hexahydrolycopene, and salts—primarily potassium salts. 2. The melon pulp contains the following inorganic elements: potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, and boron; it also contains the amino acids aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, histidine, alanine, cysteine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine,tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysine, histidine, proline, and arginine.
Relevant Discussions
1. *Essentials of Diet and Nutrition*: “Treats diabetes insipidus, relieves restlessness, and counteracts alcohol toxicity.”
2. *Herbal for Daily Use*: “Relieves summer heat, alleviates thirst and restlessness, soothes the stomach and regulates qi, promotes urination, and treats bloody dysentery.”
3. *Herbal of Southern Yunnan*: “Treats all types of heat syndromes, phlegm accumulation, and qi stagnation.”
4. *Dietary Spectrum of Suixi Ju*: “Clears the lungs and stomach; treats fire toxins and seasonal ailments.”
5. *Illustrated Compendium of Chinese Medicinal Plants*: “Watermelon juice paste is effective for treating diabetes.”
6. *Yu Qiu’s Explanation of Medicinal Herbs*: “Sweet and cold in nature, it promotes free flow and clears heat to promote urination. It relieves restlessness in the chest and diaphragm and alleviates heat-induced urinary obstruction.”
7. Wang Ying, *Food Materia Medica*: “Treats sore throat.”
8. *Introduction to Medicine*: “Those suffering from fever-induced mouth sores will be instantly cured by eating it.”
Applications
Clinical Applications
Medicinal Dietary Therapy:
Mung Bean and Watermelon Porridge:
Effects: Clears heat and promotes urination; relieves summer heat and quenches thirst; removes blood stasis and lowers blood pressure.
Ingredients: 120g rice, 100g mung beans, 150g watermelon flesh.
Preparation: Soak the mung beans in clean water for 4 hours; dice the watermelon flesh. Rinse the rice thoroughly, then add it to a pot along with the mung beans. Add water, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat until it becomes porridge. Stir in the watermelon flesh and bring to a boil again.
Usage: Consume in two portions, one in the morning and one in the evening.
Related Compatibility
1. For severe Yangming heat characterized by a dry tongue and intense thirst, or for those experiencing confusion, insomnia, or difficulty speaking: Cut open a ripe watermelon with red flesh, extract one bowl of juice, and drink it slowly. (*Ben Cao Hui Yan*)
2. For yang-type edema: Take one large watermelon, make a small hole in it, and stuff it with two heads of purple-skinned garlic, crushed. Steam until tender, then drink the juice. Take one bowl at a time, twice daily. (*Jilin Chinese Herbal Medicine*)
3. For heatstroke with difficulty urinating: Mix an appropriate amount of watermelon juice with lotus seed heart decoction and drink. (*Anhui Chinese Herbal Medicine*)
4. For summer and autumn diarrhea accompanied by restlessness and irritability: Watermelon and garlic. Cut the watermelon into one-third of its volume, place seven cloves of garlic inside, wrap it in seven to nine layers of straw paper, then completely seal it with yellow clay. Insert an empty bamboo tube into the melon to allow steam to escape, and dry it over a charcoal fire. Grind into a powder and swallow with boiling water. (*Compilation of Simple and Effective Formulas for Herbal Medicine*)
5. For severe mouth sores: Slowly drink water extracted from watermelon. (*Danxi’s Heart Method*)
6. For prolapsed hemorrhoids causing discomfort when sitting or standing: Steam and wash the affected area with watermelon broth. (*Simple and Easy Formulas for Health*)
Processing & Preparation
Harvesting & Processing
Harvest ripe fruits from June to August; they are generally used fresh.
Crude Drug Identification
Botanical Information
Botanical Classification
Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), a plant of the genus Citrullus in the Cucurbitaceae family.
Morphological Characteristics
An annual, vine-like herb. The stems are slender and weak, creeping, with distinct ridges and grooves. Tendrils are bifurcated and hairy. Leaves are alternate; petioles are 3–12 cm long;leaf blades are triangular-ovate or broadly ovate, 8–20 cm long and 5–18 cm wide, deeply 3-lobed or nearly 3-lobed; the central lobe is longer, while the lateral lobes are shorter; the lobes are further deeply and irregularly pinnately lobed or twice pinnately divided; both surfaces are pale green, with wavy or sparsely toothed margins. The plant is monoecious; both male and female flowers are solitary in the leaf axils;Male flowers are 2–2.5 cm in diameter, with slender, long-pubescent pedicels; the calyx is fused into a broadly campanulate shape, long-hairy, and 5-lobed at the apex, with narrow-lanceolate or linear-lanceolate lobes; the corolla is fused into a funnel-shaped structure, green on the outside, long-pubescent, and deeply 5-lobed at the upper part, with ovate-elliptic or broadly elliptic lobes that are obtuse at the apex;There are 5 stamens, 4 of which are fused in pairs, while 1 is free; the filaments are thick and short; the female flowers are larger than the male flowers, with a calyx similar to that of the male flowers; the ovary is inferior, ovate, and more or less covered with short soft hairs on the outside; the style is short, and the stigma is shallowly 5-lobed. The gourd-like fruit is nearly round or oblong, about 30 cm in diameter, with a green or light green surface, often bearing alternating light and dark stripes.The seeds are numerous, flattened, slightly ovate, black, red, white, or yellow, sometimes mottled, smooth on both sides, with a bluntly rounded base, and often with slightly arched margins. Flowering and fruiting occur in summer.
Distribution Area
It is cultivated throughout China.
Growth Habits
It prefers a warm, relatively dry climate. It is heat-tolerant, sensitive to low temperatures, drought-tolerant, and sun-loving. It adapts to a wide range of soil types, but is best grown in alluvial soil along riverbanks or in sandy loam with a deep topsoil layer.
Propagation Methods
Propagation is by seed, using either direct seeding or the seedling transplanting method.
Cultivation Techniques
1. Direct Seeding Method: Sow in spring (March–April). After soaking, disinfecting, and pre-germinating the seeds, make holes at a row spacing of 2 m × 4 m and sow 4 seeds per hole. Apply base fertilizer before sowing, then cover the seeds with 2–3 cm of loosened soil. When the seedlings have 3–4 true leaves, thin them to one healthy seedling per hole.2. Seedling Transplanting Method: For spring planting in February–March, sow seeds treated as described above onto nutrient-rich soil clumps in a heated seedbed, placing 2 seeds per clump. After germination, remove one of the weaker seedlings from each clump. When the seedlings have developed 3–4 true leaves, transplant them with the soil clumps intact.