Differences between Cornus officinalis and Evodia rutaecarpa

Different species

Cornus officinalis is a deciduous shrub or small tree of the Cornaceae family. Its aliases include cornus fruit, medicinal jujube, jujube peel, sour jujube, meat jujube, potato jujube, chicken foot, real jujube, cornus fruit, medicinal jujube, Tianmu seed, taro meat, and real jujube.

Evodia rutaecarpa is a small tree or shrub of the Rutaceae family. It has aliases such as Evodia rutaecarpa, tea spicy, lacquer spicy, stinky spicy tree, left pure spicy, and rice spicy.

Different forms

From a morphological point of view, the biggest difference between Cornus officinalis and Evodia rutaecarpa is the fruit and flowers.

The drupe of Cornus officinalis is oblong, 1.2-1.7 cm long, 5-7 mm in diameter, and red or purple in color. The fruit is plump and looks like big red dates, bright and shiny. The fruiting period of Cornus officinalis is from September to October.

The fruits of Evodia rutaecarpa are densely or sparsely distributed, dark purple-red in color, with large oil spots, and one seed in each carpel. The seeds are nearly spherical, with a blunt tip at one end, a slightly flat ventral surface, brown-black in color, and shiny. What kind of fruit is it? It looks like small nodules, the surface is not smooth or bright, and it looks more dense. Its fruiting period is from October to November.

The flowers of Cornus officinalis are yellow and look golden and dazzling, while the flowers of Evodia rutaecarpa are white and have a lighter color.

Different medicinal value

Cornus officinalis is slightly warm in nature, sour and astringent in taste, and has the effects of nourishing the liver and kidneys, and astringing the essence and preventing deficiency. It is used for symptoms such as dizziness and tinnitus, soreness of the waist and knees, impotence and spermatorrhea, enuresis and frequent urination, metrorrhagia and leukorrhea, profuse sweating and collapse.

Evodia rutaecarpa is hot in nature, pungent and bitter in taste, and has the effects of dispelling cold and relieving pain, relieving adverse qi and stopping vomiting, and promoting yang and stopping diarrhea. It is used to treat abdominal pain caused by cold hernia, athlete's foot caused by cold and dampness, abdominal pain during menstruation, abdominal distension and pain, vomiting and acid regurgitation, and long-term diarrhea caused by deficiency and cold.