Production RegionsPrimarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang.
Macroscopic FeaturesRound coiled shape, coil diameter is 3~6cm, snake diameter is 0.2~0.4cm. Head is coiled in the center, tail is thin, often held in the mouth. Apex of upper collar bone inside mouth has grooves of one pair of poisonous teeth, 2 internasal scales, no loreal scales, often 7 upper and lower lip scales. Back is black or grayish black, with 45~58 white rings, alternating black and white, white ringed pattern on the back is 1~2 scales wide, the ventral side is gradually wide, black ringed pattern is 3~5 scales wide; at the center of the back the spine crest forms an obvious raised ridge, back scales enlarged and hexagonal, thin and dense, 15 scales wide for whole body, single wide scale below the tail. Slightly fishy odor; slightly salty taste.
Quality RequirementsSuperior medicinal material is intact and young snake.
PropertiesSweet, salty; warm; toxic.
FunctionsDispels wind, frees network vessels, relieves tetany. Apply to wind and damp impediment, numbing and hypertonicity, stroke with deviated eyes and mouth, hemiplegia, convulsive spasm, tetanus, leprosy and scab and tinea, scrofula and sore.
OriginThe dried body of the young snake Bungarus multicinctus Blyth(Elapidae). Captured in summer and autumn, cut open the abdomen and remove the internal organs, clean the blood, soaked in ethanol, then coiled into a round shape and held in position with bamboo and dried.
