Mugua (Chinese Quince Fruit) mù guā · 木瓜

Safety. The name is where readers go wrong, and wrong in a way that matters: in everyday Chinese, mu gua is the papaya, Carica papaya, sold as fruit in every supermarket, while the herb of that name is the unrelated Chinese quince, Chaenomeles. Someone who buys papaya expecting the herb has bought a different plant entirely, and someone who assumes the two are interchangeable has not read the materia medica. Unripe papaya and its latex are in any case warned against in pregnancy, so the confusion is not a harmless one. The fruit is also sour and can aggravate reflux and wear tooth enamel. No amount is given here.