Cnidii Fructus (Cnidium monnieri (L.) Cuss. — the dried ripe fruit)
Nature and flavour. Acrid, bitter, warm; classed as slightly toxic. Kidney system.
The small ripe fruit of a plant in the carrot family, and the one member of this batch that is equally a warming internal drug. Externally, classical texts describe it as drying dampness, dispelling wind, killing parasites and relieving itch, and it is the traditional wash for genital itch, eczema and scabies. Internally it is recorded as warming the Kidney and supporting yang, and appears in classical sources for impotence and for the cold uterus of the traditional account of infertility. Coumarins — osthole above all — are the constituents usually named as its markers, and a good deal of laboratory and animal work has been published on them. That published work is preclinical: it is not the same as established benefit in people, and the traditional indications on this page are recorded as traditional rather than presented as established.
性味归经。辛、苦，温；有小毒。归肾经。
伞形科植物的干燥成熟小果实，也是本批中唯一同时属于温里内服药的一味。外用方面，古籍记载燥湿祛风、杀虫止痒，为阴痒、湿疹、疥癣的传统洗剂。内服记载为温肾壮阳，古典文献用于阳痿以及传统所称胞宫寒冷的不孕。通常以其香豆素类成分（尤以蛇床子素）作为指标成分，实验室与动物研究发表不少。但这类研究属临床前工作，不等于在人体上已证实有效；本页所载传统用途一律写作传统记载，不作为已证实者呈现。
文献列为有小毒。外用洗剂是记载最多的形式，但即便外用也只宜用于完整皮肤：有刺痛或皮疹扩散即停用，破损与渗液皮肤未经专业指导不宜使用 —— 曾有接触性皮炎报告。温肾的内服用途不作自用：古籍本已列为阴虚火旺与下焦湿热者忌用，而这恰是最容易在家误判的两类表现。孕期与哺乳期避免使用，儿童忌用。阴部瘙痒与任何持续皮疹都须先明确诊断，而不是先洗 —— 病因很多，其中一部分是可在伴侣间传播的感染；只止痒而放任病因，正是小问题拖成老问题的路径。应向正规渠道购买：伞形科近缘植物的果实曾在流通中作混充品出现，错品种并不意味着只是药力弱一点。