Name of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Concha Mauritiae (Zibeichi)
Alias: Zibeichi, Zibeizi, Shellfish teeth, Wenbei.
English name: Concha Mauritiae.
Medicinal Part: The shells of the baby family Mauritia arabica (Linnaeus), tiger-spotted baby.
Animal Form: The shells are long ovoid and firm. The spiral part of the shell tower is almost completely covered by enamel. The back is rounded, the lower part of both sides is slightly contracted inward, and the edge is slightly thicker. The surface of the shell is smooth and delicate, brown or grayish-brown, covered with intermittent brownish-brown stripes that are crisscrossed and not quite regular and a number of stellate round spots, with brown or grayish-blue bands faintly visible on the back and grayish-brown edges on the sides, with purple-brown spots on them, which extend all the way to the base. Dorsal line conspicuous, not mottled. The mouth of the shell is narrow, slightly wider at the anterior end, with the water pipe grooves at the anterior and posterior ends sunk in very deeply, and the teeth of the inner and outer lips are each 32 in number, reddish-brown.
Appearance pictures:
Origin and distribution: lives on the seabed with coral reefs or rocks near the low tide line in the intertidal zone. Distributed in Fujian, Taiwan, Hainan and Xisha and Nansha Islands.
Harvesting and Processing: Catch from May to July, remove the flesh, wash and dry in the sun.
Herb Characteristics: The teeth of purple shellfish are ovoid, 3-7 centimeters long, 2-4 centimeters wide, and 1.5-2 centimeters high. Dorsal elevation, abdominal flattening, the middle has a groove, the groove edge to the inward roll, and most of the fine teeth, both ends are concave in a round mouth, the front end is wider. Shell surface smooth, purple, brown or brown, with most dark purple-brown and white interspersed mottled or dotted, glossy and beautiful. The inner surface is blue-white. Texture hard. No gas, light flavor.
Sexual flavor and meridian: flat in nature, salty in taste. Attributes to the liver meridian.
Effects: Calming and tranquilizing the mind, calming the liver and improving eyesight. It is classified as a medicine for calming the liver and suppressing liver yang under the category of medicine for calming the liver and restraining wind.
Clinical application: Dosage 10-15 grams, decoction, first decoction for external use of appropriate amount, water flying eye pointing. It is used for treating high fever and convulsions in children, dizziness, palpitations and heartburn, insomnia and dreaminess, redness and swelling of the eyes, and cataract of the eyes due to heat poisoning.
Pharmacological studies: sedative and lowering blood pressure.
Chemical composition: Zi Bei main contains more than 90% calcium carbonate, and also contains magnesium, iron, silicate, phosphate and chloride and organic matter.
Contraindications: Caution is advised for those with cold spleen and stomach.
Compound prescription:
(1) Treatment of carbuncle and gangrene: burn and calcine purple shells into ash and apply it. ("Pu Ji Fang")
② treatment of tuberculous meningitis: 9 grams of purple shellfish teeth, 9 grams of flowers, 9 grams of ochre, 9 grams of pearl shells, decoction ("Qingdao Manual of Chinese Herbal Medicine")
(3) Treatment of Spot Sore Ding Zi into the Eye: Purple Shell. Raw for the end, with goat's liver batch open, mixed with the end of one money. Wrap the thread. Rice swill boil incense cooked, into a small bottle container, smoked by heat. When it is cold, dew on the stars and moon for one night, and then eat it in the morning. (Zi Bei San, Renewal of Yi Jian Fang Lun)
