Ulva lactuca

Ulva lactuca

(notes on materia medica)

[synonyms] Shibei (Lianjiang county annals), Zhicai (Guangdong Xinyu), hailettuce (Chinese plant Atlas), Haicai (Chinese herbal medicine annals).

[source] it is the chloroplast of Ulva lactuca or Ulva pertusa.

[plant morphology] 1. Ulva lactuca, also known as Ulva lactuca.

The algae are yellowish green, 10-30 cm long, up to 40 cm long. The body is nearly ovate, the edge is often slightly wavy, or broad leaf like. The thickness is about 45 microns.

It grows on the rocks or bogs in the Bay, middle and low tide zones. It is distributed along the coast of Hainan Island from Zhejiang to Guangdong, and rare along the coast of Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea.

② Ulva pertusa

The algae are dark green, oval, ovate, lanceolate or round leaf like, flat as paper, about 70 μ m thick, about 130-180 μ m thick near the base, with a long track from 10 cm to 1 m, slightly wrinkled or wavy edge. There are many holes of different sizes. There are disc-shaped fixators at the base, concentric wrinkles near them, sessile or inconspicuous.

It grows on the rocks near the middle and low tide zones and the high dry tide line. It is distributed along the coasts of Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu, and also along the coasts of the East China Sea and South China Sea to the south of the Yangtze River.

[collection] harvest in winter and spring.

[herbal medicine] the dried leaves are irregular masses, very soft, thin and easy to break.

Produced in Guangdong, Fujian and other places.

[chemical composition] ① the dry product of Ulva lactuca contains 11.51% water, 51.11% ash (silica, calcium, magnesium, sodium, chlorine, etc.), 0.58% nitrogen, 3.61% protein, 6.89% crude fiber and 10.55% sodium chloride.

It also contains acidic polysaccharide and uronic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, 28 isofucosterol, cyclojackineol, 24 methylene cyclojackineol, and dimethyl - β - propionate.

② Ulva pertusa contains protein 16.03, fat 0.23, pentosan 12.27 and Soluble Non nitrogen substance 64.49%; ash 21.67% (including sodium 4.9, potassium 2.9, silicon 1.7, phosphorus 0.6, aluminum 0.8, iron 1.6, calcium 1.8, magnesium 22.1, sulfur 17.8%); amino acids, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, valeric acid, tetradecanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid, linolenic acid and other fatty acids, acrylic acid, carapace aldehyde, furfural, benzaldehyde Propionaldehyde, citral, anisaldehyde, vanilla aldehyde, isovanilla aldehyde, cinnamaldehyde, citronellal, isoterpinene, α - pinene, limonene, safrole, p-cymene, eucalyptus, eugenol, linalool, α - terpineol, biotin and vitamin B12.

[nature and taste] notes on materia medica: "it tastes sweet, flat and non-toxic. "

[functions and indications] 1. In the collection of Materia Medica, it is said that "going into the water is beneficial to urination. "

② It is not suitable to drink haicao, which is not conducive to urination. Hu people often use it to treat ear diseases. "

Chinese PinYin : Shi Chun