Kelp

Thallus Laminariae

(English) Kelp

Also known as cabbage.

Source: The fronds of Laminaria japonica Arsch.

Plant form: Perennial large brown algae, leathery. The algal body is clearly divided into root-like anchors, handles and slices. It is olive brown when mature and dark brown when dry. The slice is long and narrow, with an entire edge, up to 6m long and 20-50cm wide. It is thicker in the center, thinner towards both edges, and has wavy folds. Sporangia clusters are formed on the slices and appear as nearly round scars.

Grown on rocks 2 to 3 meters below the low tide line on the seaside, or artificially cultivated on ropes and bamboo. Distributed in Liaodong Peninsula, Shandong Peninsula, and along the coasts of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong.

Collection and processing: Harvested from May to September and dried in the sun.

Characteristics: Curly into balls, tangled into bunches. The whole color is dark brown or greenish brown, with white frost on the surface. When soaked in water, it will expand into a flat long strip, 50 to 150cm long and 10 to 40cm wide, with a thicker middle and thinner and wavy edges. It is leathery, with an oblate shape of the remaining handle. The smell is fishy and the taste is salty.

Chemical ingredients include algin, mannitol, galactan, laminine, laminarin, glutamic acid, ascorbic acid Aspartic acid, proline, vitamin B1, C, P, sulfonate, potassium, etc.

Nature and flavor: cold in nature and salty in taste.

Functions and Indications: Softening and dispersing stagnation, eliminating phlegm, diuresis. Used for galls, scrofula, testicular swelling and pain, phlegm and edema.

Note: Commercial kelp includes the fronds of Ecklonia kurome Okam.

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Kombu

Kombu is the algae of the algae plant Pterophyceae FckloniakuromeOkam., also known as kelp

, goosefoot, quince, etc. The algal body is dark brown, 30-100 cm high, and the leaves are pinnately split.

Distributed in the East China Sea.

Each hundred grams of Laminaria algae contains 12.6 grams of water, 9 grams of protein, 0.2 grams of fat, 57.5 grams of carbohydrates, 3320 mg of calcium, 86 mg of iron, and brown algae 25.6 g of acid, 7.21 g of mannitol, and 280 mg of iodine.

Laminaria is salty and cold in nature and has the effects of softening and dispersing knots, reducing swelling and diuresis, moistening and eliminating phlegm. Used for thyroid

Adenoma, cervical lymphadenopathy, bronchitis, tuberculosis, cough, senile cataracts, etc. "Compendium of Materia Medica

Shu" records that "Kunbu is salty and can soften hardness. Its nature is moistening, and cold can remove heat and dissipate knots. Therefore, it is mainly used to treat edema, galls

tumors, gas, and Fistula”. "Treatise on the Properties of Medicine" records that it "diminishes water channels, removes facial swelling, and removes malignant sores and rat fistulas."

English name THALLUS LAMINARIAE/THALLUS ECKLONIAE

Source: This product is the drying of Laminaria japonica Aresch. or Ecklonia kurome Okam. fronds. Harvested in summer and autumn and dried in the sun.

Preparation method: Remove impurities, rinse, dry for a while, cut into wide strips, and dry in the sun.

Characteristics

Kelp: curled and folded into balls, or tangled into handfuls. The whole color is dark brown or greenish brown, with white frost on the surface. When soaked in water, it expands into a long flat strip, 50 to 150cm long and 10 to 40cm wide, with a thicker middle and thinner and wavy edges. Leatherlike, with remaining flat cylindrical handle. The smell is fishy and the taste is salty.

Kombu: curled and shrunk into irregular balls. The whole is black and thin. When soaked in water, it will swell into a flat leaf shape, with a length and width of about 16 to 26cm and a thickness of about 1.6mm; the sides are deeply feather-shaped, and the lobes are long tongue-shaped, with small teeth or entire edges.

Silky texture.

Identification

(1) This product has a thick body and swells when soaked in water. The surface is sticky and slippery, with transparent mucus attached. Those that are not layered when twisted by hand are kelp, and those that are layered are kelp.

(2) Take about 10g of this product, cut into pieces, add 200ml of water, soak for several hours, filter, and concentrate the filtrate to about 100ml. Take 2 to 3 ml of the concentrated solution, add 1 drop of nitric acid and a few drops of silver nitrate test solution to form a yellow milky precipitate, which is slightly soluble in ammonia test solution but insoluble in nitric acid.

Content determination

Take 10g of this product, cut into pieces [at the same time, take another part of this product to determine the moisture content (Appendix IX H first method)], weigh it accurately, and place it in a porcelain dish. Heat and simmer slowly, hold for 10 minutes every time the temperature rises by 100°C, and hold for 40 minutes when the temperature rises to 400-500°C, take it out and let it cool. Place the ignited residue in a beaker, add 100ml of water, boil for about 5 minutes, filter, repeat the residue treatment with water twice, 100ml each time, filter, combine the filtrate, wash the residue with hot water 3 times, and combine the washing liquid and the filtrate. Heat and concentrate to about 80ml, let cool, transfer the concentrated solution to a 100ml measuring flask, and add water to the mark. Precisely measure 5 ml, place it in a stoppered conical flask, add 50 ml of water and 2 drops of methyl orange indicator solution, add dropwise dilute sulfuric acid until red, add 5 ml of newly prepared bromine test solution, heat to boiling, add 20% along the wall of the bottle Take 5 ml of sodium formate solution and reheat it for 10 to 15 minutes. Wash the wall of the bottle with hot water, let it cool, add 5 ml of dilute sulfuric acid and 5 ml of 15% potassium iodide solution, and immediately titrate with sodium thiosulfate titrant (0.01 mol/L) to light yellow. Add 1 ml of starch indicator solution and continue titration until the blue color disappears. Each 1ml of sodium thiosulfate titrant (0.01mol/L) is equivalent to 0.2115mg of iodine (I).

Calculated as a dry product, the iodine (I) content of kelp should not be less than 0.35%, and the iodine (I) content of kelp should not be less than 0.20%.

The nature and flavor are salty and cold. Returns to the liver, stomach and kidney meridians.

The main functions are to soften and dissipate stagnation, eliminate phlegm and diuresis. Used for galls, scrofula, testicular swelling and pain, phlegm and edema.

Usage and dosage: 6~12g.

Stored in a dry place.

Excerpt from "Chinese Pharmacopoeia"