INDIVIDUAL HERBS

Pharmaceutical Latin:	Fructus Crotonis
Common English:	Croton Seed Croton Fruit

Taste	Temperature	Entering Meridians	Dosage
Acrid	Hot Toxic	Stomach Large Intestine Lung	Pills or capsules: 0.1-0.3g per day Topically: 3-9g Defatted capsules: 15-30g every four hours if necessary Tincture: 0.05-0.1ml

Actions	Indications/Syndromes
Warmly unblocks and vigorously purges (purges accumulated Cold)	Severe Internal Cold Accumulation leading to constipation, abdominal fullness, distention and pain Food Stagnation
Drives out water and reduces edema	Ascites due to end stage schistomiasis
Breaks up clogged Phlegm and improves the condition of the throat	Difficult breathing, wheezing, and severe fullness and distention in the chest and diaphragm Phlegm Blocking the Orifices
Promotes healing of abscesses and ulcers topically and kills parasites	Abscesses that have suppurated but not ulcerated Severe ulcers
Stops diarrhea	Diarrhea due to Cold
Insecticide topically

CONTRAINDICATIONS

Contraindicated during pregnancy.
Contraindicated during breast feeding.
Contraindicated for weak patients.
Use with extreme caution. It can be fatal.
Do not take this herb with hot liquids. It will severely aggravate its laxative effect.
To combat unremitting diarrhea, take rice congee or a tea made from Rz. Coptidis Huang Lian and Cx. Phellodendri Huang Bai.
A treatment for Ba Dou poisoning is a cold soup made from Sm. Phaseoli Radiati Lu Dou, or a decoction of Rx. Glycyrrhizae Gan Cao and Rz. Coptidis Huang Lian taken cold.
Avoid direct contact with the skin.

INCOMPATIBILITIES

HERB/DRUG INTERACTIONS

Rx. et Rz. Rhei Da Huang Rz. Zingiberis Gan Jiang	Cinnabaris Zhu Sha Calculus Bovis Niu Huang	Rx. Platycodi Jie Geng Bul. Fritillariae Bei Mu
Accumulation of Cold in the Interior	Phlegm Misting the Orifices	Lung Abscess with cough, chest pain, and copious, fishy-smelling sputum
Olibannum Ru Xiang Myrrh Mo Yao Sm. Momordicae Mu Bie Zi	Sm. Arecae Bing Lang Rz. Alismatis Ze Xie	Sm. Phaseoli Chi Xiao Dou
Accelerates the ulcerating process topically	Edema associated with swelling and urinary difficulty	Edema and abdominal distention, shortness of breath and urinary difficulty
Rx. Sophorae Flavescentis Ku Shen	Olibanum Ru Xiang Myrrh Mo Yao	Realgar Xiong Huang
Applied topically as a warm poultice for painful sores	Sores that have not ulcerated	Topically for skin disorders

It is traditionally considered the herbal equivalent of a battering ram.
It is most often used in its defatted form and called Prepared Semen Croton Ba Dou Shuang.
Croton Root, Ba Dou Gen, is a medium strength remedy, given for rheumatoid arthritis, hematoma, and snakebite. Dosage: 3-10g in decoction.
Both Ba Dou and Rx. et Rz. Rhei Da Huang are purgatives, drive out the old to bring in the new, reduce accumulation and harmonize the middle. Da Huang is cold and is used for Heat buildup in the Yang organs, has a low toxicity, breaks up Blood Stasis, clears Damp-Heat and relieves toxicity. Ba Dou is Hot, is used when Cold accumulates internally in the Yin organs and is very toxic.
Defatted Croton Kernels (Fructus Crotonis Pulveratum) Ba Dou Shuang is less toxic, yet only very small doses should be taken . It is used to drain downward, attack Phlegm, soften hardness and grind down accumulations.
Dry-fried Croton Kernels Chao Ba Dou Ren is less toxic and less purgative.
Sand-washed Croton Kernels Sha Yu Ba Dou Ren is less toxic
Croton Husks Ba Dou Ke or Ba Dou Qiao also known as Croton Skin reduces accumulation, breaks up hardness, transforms Phlegm and is used for accumulated Food Stagnation, scrofula, and Phlegm nodules. Charred, it can alleviate dysenteric disorders.