Chinese Herb

Badou

Croton tiglium L.

When I asked for the Chinese herb badou in a shop, the medicine man said to me:

"Do you know this is poisonous?"

"Yes, I do. Do you sell it?" I replied.

"Yes, we do," he said.

"How do people use this ?"

"For external use." He meant for malignant ulcers, scabies and warts.

Badou is written as 巴豆 in Chinese. It is the dried ripe fruit of what is known as Croton fruit, collected in autumn. It is a prescribed drastic purgative medication for constipation due to cold accumulation in the forms of small pellets 0.1 - 0.3g per dosage or in frost form to reduce toxicity.

In the picture above, you ca see a cross section of the croton fruit consisting of three cells. Inside each cell, there is a yellowish brown kernel from which croton oil is extracted.

During the older days in Malaysia, a single kernel is eaten as a purgative. When the purgative has gone far enough, coconut milk is drunk to stop it.

In an old-fashion prescription, one drop of croton oil is administered to an adult for constipation. " (The croton oil )...not only produced an amazing quantity of feculent matter, but copious perspiration. It operates usually in half an hour, without griping." Observed W.E.E.Conwell in the book Edinburg Medical and Surgical Journal 1822 pages 314-5. Bear in mind though, the croton oil is handled by a skillful physician to achieve the desired constipation relief.

To further extinguish any thoughts of self-medicating your good self with the croton fruit, let me tell you this - the crushed seeds and leaves can be put into a sack and dumped into a river to stupefy fish. Hopefully, you are not one of the fish.

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