Herb

Mole cricket (Lou gu)

蝼蛄lou gu
1 sourceGryllotalpa orientalis

Recorded in Bencao Gangmu for difficult delivery, drawing out embedded thorns, draining abscess swelling, resolving toxin, and for water-swelling, head and face swelling, freeing the bowels and urine and stony strangury.

Source

Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu)卷四十一·虫部·化生类·蝼蛄·主治

References
  • functions_en self-translated from 本草纲目 traditional_functions (public domain; the Chinese tf carries verbatim excerpt_hash citations). No modern work consulted.
  • WHO IST-TCM terminology-aligned for the English rendering.
  • public pharmacopoeia & zoological facts (public-domain reference facts; no proprietary modern source).
Traditional functions

Classical source text (Chinese) — English summary above.

传统中医记载：产难，出肉中刺，溃痈肿，下哽噎，解毒，除恶疮；水肿，头面肿；利大小便，通石淋，治瘰疬骨哽。

Nature, flavor & meridians

Nature & flavor: 咸，寒，无毒。

Citations
  • Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) · Li Shizhen · 卷四十一·虫部·化生类·蝼蛄·条名Cited from Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) for its classification.
  • Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) · Li Shizhen · 卷四十一·虫部·化生类·蝼蛄·气味Cited from Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) for its nature & flavor.
  • Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) · Li Shizhen · 卷四十一·虫部·化生类·蝼蛄·主治Cited from Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) for its traditional functions.