Ci Mei Guo
StarRosa davurica Pall.
Traditionally used for
- Cough & breathing
- Digestion
- Urinary & fluids
- Menstrual & women's health
- Energy & fatigue
☯ TCM Properties
Strengthens the Spleen and Promotes Digestion; Moves Qi and Relieves Distension; Invigorates Blood and Regulates Menstruation; Astringes the Lungs and Stops Cough
Traditional Chinese Uses
Ci Mei Guo (rose hip fruit, rosehip) is a mild, sweet-sour herb used in Chinese medicine for its Liver-benefiting, urinary-supporting, and mildly astringent properties. It is applied for chronic urinary complaints, mild digestive support, and as a Liver-nourishing tonic. Rich in Vitamin C and antioxidants, its international reputation for immune support and inflammation management reflects properties recognized in both traditional and modern contexts. It is commonly consumed as a tea or jam for daily health maintenance.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Rosa davurica (Rosaceae), the Dahurian rose or Ci Mei Guo, is a deciduous shrub 1-1.5 m tall with slender erect or arching stems armed with paired straight or slightly curved prickles below the leaves. Pinnately compound leaves bear 5-9 narrowly oblong to elliptic, finely serrate leaflets 1.5-4 cm long, glandular and slightly pubescent beneath. Solitary or clustered fragrant pink to purplish-pink flowers 4-6 cm across with 5 broad petals appear in early summer. The fruit (hip) is a fleshy globose to ovoid red-orange hypanthium 1-1.5 cm across, ripening in autumn and persisting into winter, rich in vitamin C, carotenoids, and flavonoids. Native to forest margins, slopes, and riverbanks across northern China, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, Korea, and Japan. (Sources: POWO; Wikipedia)
Active Constituents
Triterpene acids of the ursane and lupane series (ursolic acid, pomolic acid, euscaphic acid, betulinic acid)
Pentacyclic triterpene acidConcentration: eight triterpene acids were isolated from the pericarp in the reference study; no validated percentage of the dried drug has been published
The dominant lipophilic fraction of the pericarp. Ursolic and pomolic acids are broadly anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative in cell systems, and are the usual explanation offered for the fruit's topical and anti-inflammatory activity. No human pharmacokinetic data exist for this drug.
Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
Water-soluble vitaminRosa davurica fruit is used in northeastern China and the Russian Far East as a vitamin C rich rosehip and is the basis of its food use. Reported values vary widely with provenance, ripeness and drying method, so no single figure should be quoted for a commercial batch; prolonged decoction destroys much of it.
Davuriciin M1
Hydrolysable tannin (dilactonised sanguisorboyl ellagitannin)The tannin for which this species is the type source. Important caveat on plant part: davuriciin M1 and the oligomers davuriciin D1, D2 and T1 were characterised from Rosa davurica root, not from the fruit that constitutes the drug Ci Mei Guo, so they should not be presented as fruit markers.
Agrimoniin
Hydrolysable tannin (ellagitannin dimer)Reported as a main tannin of the Rosa davurica root extract alongside the davuriciins. As with davuriciin M1 this is a root constituent; the fruit drug's tannin profile is less completely characterised.
Taxifolin apioside
Dihydroflavonol (flavanonol) glycosideIsolated from Rosa davurica together with davuriciin M1. Taxifolin glycosides are antioxidant in vitro; no in vivo activity has been attributed specifically to this compound in this species.
Methyl 3-O-beta-glucopyranosyl-gallate
Gallic acid derivative (phenolic glucoside)Isolated from the pericarp along with three known flavonoids and ethyl beta-fructopyranoside. Contributes to the astringent, tannin-like character of the fruit that underlies its traditional use for loose stools.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Rosa roxburghii (Ci Li Guo), Rosa rugosa (Mei Gui Hua) and Rosa laevigata (Jin Ying Zi)
Ci Mei Guo (Rosa davurica fruit) is a regional northeastern Chinese drug with no Chinese Pharmacopoeia monograph, and its name is one syllable from Ci Li Guo, the fruit of Rosa roxburghii, which is a different and far more heavily commercialised vitamin C rosehip. Rosa rugosa (Mei Gui Hua, the flower bud) and Rosa laevigata (Jin Ying Zi) are separate Pharmacopoeia drugs with different actions - Jin Ying Zi is an astringent used for urinary frequency and leucorrhoea, not a digestive. A phytochemical screen of Rosa davurica, Rosa rugosa and Rosa acicularis material from the Russian Far East found overlapping but non-identical constituent profiles across the three species, so genus-level sourcing is not interchangeable.
Clinical note: Insist on the binomial on the certificate of analysis. Rosa davurica fruit is not the same commodity as Rosa roxburghii (Ci Li Guo) even though both are sold as vitamin C rosehips, and neither is Jin Ying Zi.
Oral iron salts, and orally administered alkaloid or aminoglycoside drugs
Rosa davurica is a tannin-rich drug; hydrolysable tannins including the davuriciins and agrimoniin have been characterised from it. Hydrolysable tannins chelate iron and precipitate basic drugs in the gut lumen. This is a general tannin-class effect, well established for tannin-rich plants as a group but not measured for this species specifically, so it is graded as possible rather than established.
Clinical note: Separate the decoction from oral iron and from narrow-therapeutic-index oral drugs by at least two hours.
Evidence Tier
Limited evidence · 2 studiesRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
2
1 verified · 1 unverified
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Flavonoids from Rosa davurica Pall. fruits prevent high-fat diet-induced obesity and liver injury via modulation of the gut microbiota in mice
A flavonoid fraction prepared from Rosa davurica fruit - the actual drug part, which is unusual in this literature - reduced body weight gain, hepatic lipid accumulation and markers of liver injury in high-fat-diet mice, with concurrent shifts in gut microbial composition. Mouse study only; no human data, and the fraction is not the whole decocted drug.
Rosa davurica Inhibited Allergic Mediators by Regulating Calcium and Histamine Signaling Pathways
A Rosa davurica extract suppressed degranulation and histamine release in mast-cell models and interfered with calcium influx and histamine signalling. Cell-based work only; it supports an anti-allergic mechanism but says nothing about the digestive indication for which Ci Mei Guo is used.
References
- Kuang Hai-Xue; Kasai Ryoji; Ohtani Kazuhiro; Liu Zhong-Shen; Yuan Chun-Sheng; Tanaka Osamu. Chemical constituents of pericarps of Rosa davurica Pall., a traditional Chinese medicine. . Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (1989) [DOI]
- Yoshida Takashi; Jin Zhe-Xiong; Okuda Takuo. Taxifolin apioside and davuriciin M1, a hydrolysable tannin from Rosa davurica . Phytochemistry (1989) [DOI]
- Yoshida Takashi; Jin Zhe-Xiong; Okuda Takuo. Hydrolysable tannin oligomers from Rosa davurica . Phytochemistry (1991) [DOI]
- Fu Min; Liu Yanze. Rosa davurica Pall 刺玫果 (Cimeiguo, Dahurian Rose Fruit) . Dietary Chinese Herbs (Springer) (2015) [DOI]
- Razgonova Mayya P.; Bazhenova Bayana A.; Zabalueva Yulia Yu.; Burkhanova Anastasia G.; Zakharenko Alexander M.; Kupriyanov Andrey N.; Sabitov Andrey S.; Ercisli Sezai; Golokhvast Kirill S.. Rosa davurica Pall., Rosa rugosa Thumb., and Rosa acicularis Lindl. Originating from Far Eastern Russia: Screening of 146 Chemical Constituents in Three Species of the Genus Rosa . Applied Sciences (2022) [DOI]
- Jiao Shu-Ping. Anti-lipid peroxidation effect of Rosa davurica Pall. fruit . Journal of Chinese Integrative Medicine (2004) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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