Gua Di

Cucumis melo L. (Cucurbitaceae), the melon or muskmelon, is an annual trailing or climbing herbaceous vine native to Africa and southwestern Asia and widely cultivated worldwide, with hairy stems, palmately lobed leaves, and yellow flowers producing the familiar round to oblong edible fruit. The medicinal Gua Di is the small dried pedicel (the short stem segment attaching each fruit to the vine), collected when the fruit ripens in summer. It is brown, slightly curved, 1-2 cm long, with a flared end where it joined the fruit. The pedicel contains the bitter cucurbitacins (cucurbitacin B, E, and others), highly bioactive tetracyclic triterpenes that act as powerful emetics. In traditional Chinese medicine, Gua Di is bitter, cold, and toxic, entering the stomach channel; it induces vomiting to expel phlegm and undigested food from the upper digestive tract, used in carefully controlled doses for phlegm obstruction of the chest, food stagnation in the stomach, and certain epileptic or maniacal patterns from phlegm. It is used very cautiously due to its strong emetic action.