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Botanical Name
Tetradium ruticarpum
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Details

Tetradium ruticarpum is a tree from China and Korea, formerly placed in the genus Euodia as Euodia ruticarpa. Its fruit is the part usually used, and it has a strong bitter taste. It is used in traditional Chinese medicine and is a recognised herb in Kampo, the Japanese system of herbal medicine, where it is called goshuyu. Goshuyu gives its name to the Kampo preparation goshuyu-tou and is also an ingredient of unkeito. Both the former genus name and the species name are often misspelled, and the plant usually appears in sources on traditional Chinese medicine as Evodia rutaecarpa, so a search by that spelling may find the same plant. The compound evodiamine, named after the former genus, has been reported from it. The Wikipedia page notes that there has been relatively little scientific study of the species.

References

#1#2#3

Correspondences

Elements
No elements recorded.
Celestial Bodies
No celestial bodies recorded.
Zodiac Signs
No zodiac signs recorded.
Colours
No colours recorded.
Deities
No deities recorded.

Folk Names

  • Goshuyu

Categories

  • Banishing
  • Warding

Substitutes

No substitutes recorded.

Forms

Fruit

References

#4

References

Notes

  1. Bretschneider, Botanicon Sinicum, p. 436.
  2. Stuart, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 69.
  3. Wikipedia, under "Tetradium ruticarpum."
  4. Wikipedia, under "Tetradium ruticarpum."

Bibliography

  • Bretschneider, E. Botanicon Sinicum: Notes on Chinese Botany from Native and Western Sources, Part III: Botanical Investigations into the Materia Medica of the Ancient Chinese. 1895. Accessed October 29, 2026. https://archive.org/details/mobot31753000532140. (Year from the title page (1895); the text also prints 'Issued at Shanghai: February 1896'.) Open the Source (opens in a new tab)1
  • Stuart, G. A. Chinese Materia Medica: Vegetable Kingdom. 1911. Accessed October 29, 2026. https://archive.org/details/chinesemateriame00stuauoft. Open the Source (opens in a new tab)2
  • Wikipedia, under "Tetradium ruticarpum." Accessed October 29, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tetradium_ruticarpum&oldid=1357245134. Open the Source (opens in a new tab)34