Latin Name
Citrus reticulata

General Description
Sometimes called mandarin orange peel, this herb is prescribed for digestive disorders. Chinese medicine practitioners believe that the peel gets better as it ages, and its Chinese name, chén pí, can be translated into English as "aged peel." The best samples of the fruit are thin-skinned, pliable, oily,and fragrant. Chinese herbalists characterize the herb as acrid, bitter and warm.

Target Ailments

• Indigestion, gas; a feeling of swelling, bloatedness or fullness in the abdomen; nausea and vomiting; loose stools; and bringing up phlegm. (Taken internally.)

Preparations
Tangerine peel is available at any Chinese pharmacy or Asian food market, as well as at Western health food stores. It is also available as pills.
Combinations: In a preparation with Asian ginseng, tangerine peel is used as a digestive stimulant. Chinese herbalists prescribe a mixture of tangerine peel, ripe bitter orange, and aucklandia for abdominal distention, fullness and pain. And a preparation containing tangerine peel and pinellia root is used to treat a stifling feeling in the chest that makes deep breathing difficult, together with an excess of phlegm. For further information on appropriate preparations and doses, check with an herbal practitioner.

Special Information

• Do not use this herb if you have a dry cough or an excessively red tongue, or if you are spitting up blood.
  
• A mixture of aged tangerine peel and licorice has been used in a clinical study to treat mastitis (inflammation of the breast).
  
• Herbalists use the red part of tangerine peel (when dried, some parts are orange and others red) to control vomiting and belching.
  
• Chinese practitioners also prescribe young, or green, tangerine peel for breast and side pain and for hernia pain. The green peel has recently been used to raise blood pressure when it is too low.