Chaulmoogra Seed

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Expels wind and dries dampness from chronic toxic skin disease - Da Feng Zi is classically used for stubborn dermatoses with damp, wind, parasite, or toxin features, especially lepra-type disorders, scabies, tinea, and other refractory itchy or ulcerative lesions.
• Counteracts toxicity and kills parasites - the seed is valued for penetrating longstanding skin pathology where ordinary clearing herbs are too mild, whether the issue is infestation, chronic ulceration, or poison-damp lodged in the flesh and skin.
• Attacks chronic hardness and entrenched pathology - older internal use, now uncommon, targeted severe longstanding cutaneous disease and deforming lesions with a small-pill or powder dose because of the herb's strong, toxic nature.
• Acts primarily as a topical or very low-dose specialist medicine rather than a routine internal herb - traditional teaching emphasizes that its therapeutic power is inseparable from its toxicity.

Secondary Actions

• Defatted preparations were historically preferred when internal use was attempted because they were considered less toxic and easier to tolerate than the full seed or oil.
• The historical fame of chaulmoogra oil in leprosy treatment helps explain why Da Feng Zi remains culturally important even though modern infectious-disease care has moved on to more effective and safer therapy.

Classic Formulas

• Zaojiao Kushen Wan (皂角苦参丸) - from Yi Zong Jin Jian, combining Da Feng Zi with Ku Shen and other wind-damp-toxin herbs for severe itchy toxic skin eruptions and chronic eczema-type disease.
• Da Feng Zi with Qing Fen in sesame oil - classic topical pairing for severe parasitic or leprosy-type lesions, historically used when wind-damp toxin is deeply lodged in the skin.
• Topical powders and ointments with Di Fu Zi or Ku Shen - traditional pattern of combining Da Feng Zi with antipruritic, toxin-resolving herbs for scabies, tinea, and chronic damp-toxic dermatoses.

Classical References

• TCM Wiki lists Da Feng Zi as pungent, hot, and toxic, entering the Liver, Spleen, and Kidney channels, with actions of dispelling wind, eliminating dampness, counteracting toxic pathogens, and killing parasites.
• American Dragon places Da Feng Zi among substances for topical application, gives the main indications as leprosy, scabies, tinea, and syphilis, and stresses that internal use is very small-dose and requires caution.
• HISTORICAL NOTE: older literature and trade references may call the herb Chaulmoogra seed or use Hydnocarpus-based Latin names; this entry follows the better-attested medicinal identity rather than preserving the import-stub Latin.