Pharmaceutical Name:

Bombyx Batryticatus

Zoological Name:

Bombyx Mori L.

Common Name:

White-Stiff Silkworm

Source of Earliest Record:

Shennong Bencao Jing

Part Used & Method for Pharmaceutical Preparations:

The silkworm, dead and stiffened due to infection of beavveria bassiana, is dried in the sun.

Properties and Taste:

Salty, pungent and neutral

Meridians:

Liver and lung

Functions:

To subdue endogenous wind and stop spasms
To expel wind and stop pain
To dispel toxins and disperse nodules

Indications and Combinations:

1.     Convulsions due to high fever and epileptic spasms.
*Use with Gastrodia tuber (Tianma), Arisaema tuber with bile (Dannanxing) and Ox gallstone (Niuhuang) in the formula Qianjin San.

2.     Chronic convulsions with prolonged diarrhea due to deficiency of the spleen.
*Use with Pilose asiabell root (Dangshen), White Atractylodes (Baizhu) and Gastrodia tuber (Tianma).

3.     Windstroke manifested as deviation of eyes and mouth or facial spasms.
*Use with Scorpion (Quanxie) and Typhonium tuber (Baifuzi) in the formula Qianzhen San.

4.     Wind-heat headache and lacrimation from exposure to wind.
*Use with Schizonepeta (Jingjie), Mulberry leaf (Sangye) and Shave grass (Muzei) in the formula Baijiangcan San.

5.     Wind-heat sore throat.
*Use with Platycodon root (Jiegeng), Ledebouriella (Fangfeng and Licorice root (Gancao).

6.      Rubella and itching.
*Use with Cicada slough (Chantui) and Mentha (Bohe).

7.      Scrofula.
*Use with Tendrilled fritillary bulb (Chuanbeimu) and Prunella spike (Xiakucao).

Dosage:

3-10 g

Cautions:

The raw substance is used for wind-heat syndrome, the fried substance for other applications.