Crataegus pinnatifida

Crataegus pinnatifida
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Crataegus
Series: Pinnatifidae
(Zabel ex C.K.Schneid) Rehder[1]
Species: C. pinnatifida
Binomial name
Crataegus pinnatifida
Bunge

Crataegus pinnatifida, also known as Chinese hawthorn[2][3] or shānzhā (Chinese: 山楂 literally means "mountain hawthorn"), refers to a small to a medium-sized tree as well as the fruit of the tree. The fruit is bright red, 1.5 inches in diameter.

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Use

Culinary use

In northern Chinese cuisine, ripe Crataegus pinnatifida fruits are used in the dessert tanghulu. It is also used to make the traditional haw flakes, as well as candied fruit slices, jam, jelly and wine.

Medicinal use

Several species of hawthorn are used in naturopathic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, primarily to strengthen cardiac output, and scientific evidence is accumulating of the potential pharmacological effects of chemical compounds isolated from plants in the genus Crataegus. The dried fruits of Crataegus pinnatifida (called shān zhā in Chinese) are used primarily as a digestive aid.[4] Recent research has shown that polyphenols derived from the fruit of the tree have anti-tumor activities on on skin, indicating a potential use in preventing skin cancer.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Phipps, J.B.; Robertson, K.R.; Smith, P.G.; Rohrer, J.R. (1990). A checklist of the subfamily Maloideae (Rosaceae). Canadian Journal of Botany. 68(10): 2209–2269.
  2. ^ Hummer, K.E.; Janick, J. (2008). Folta, Kevin M.; Gardiner, Susan E.. ed. Genetics and genomics of Rosaceae. New York: Springer. p. 11. ISBN 9780387774909. 
  3. ^ Flint, Harrison L. (1997). Landscape plants for eastern North America : esclusive of Florida and the immediate Gulf Coast. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 158. ISBN 9780471599197. 
  4. ^ Dharmananda S. (2004). Hawthorn (Crataegus). Food and Medicine in China.. January. Institute of Traditional Medicine Online. http://www.itmonline.org/arts/crataegus.htm. 
  5. ^ Kao, Erl-Shyh; Wang, CJ; Lin, WL; Chu, CY; Tseng, TH; Chau-Jong Wang, Wea-Lung Lin, Chia-Yih Chu, Tsui-Hwa Tseng (2007). "Effects of polyphenols derived from fruit of Crataegus pinnatifida on cell transformation, dermal edema and skin tumor formation by phorbol ester application". Food and Chemical Toxicology (Elsevier) 45 (10): 1795–1804. doi:10.1016/j.fct.2007.03.016. PMID 17493734. 

See also