Pharmaceutical Name:

Concha Arcae

Zoological Name:

Arca granosa L.
Arca subcrenata Lischke
Arca inflata Reeve

Common Name:

Ark shell

Source of Earliest Record:

Mingyi Bielu

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The shells are collected from the sea when the tide is out.  After the flesh is removed, the shell is dried and ground into powder.

Properties and Taste:

Salty and neutral

Meridians:

Lung, stomach and liver

Functions:

To resolve phlegm and stagnation
To soften hardness and disperse nodules

Indications and Combinations:

1.      Scrofula and goiter.
*Use with Seaweed (Hai zao) and Laminaria (Kun bu).

2.      Stomach pain and acid regurgitation.
*Use with Cuttlefish bone (Wu zei gu).

3.      Subcutaneous nodules.
*Use with Burreed tuber (San leng), Zedoary (E zhu) and Turtle shell 
(Bie jia).

Dosage:

10-30 g

Cautions:

The raw substance is used for nodules; the baked substance is better for treating acid regurgitation and pain.