Hawksbill Tortoise Shell, a name in traditional Chinese medicine. It refers to the carapace of the hawksbill tortoise (Eretmochelys imbricata L.), a species of the genus Eretmochelys in the family Cheloniidae. It has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, as well as calming the heart and regulating the liver. It is used to treat fever-induced delirium, rambling speech, infantile convulsions, and abscesses, swellings, and toxic sores.
Hawksbill
Hawksbill Tortoise Shell, a name in traditional Chinese medicine. It refers to the carapace of the hawksbill tortoise (Eretmochelys imbricata L.), a species of the genus Eretmochelys in the family Cheloniidae. It has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, as well as calming the heart and regulating the liver. It is used to treat fever-induced delirium, rambling speech, infantile convulsions, and abscesses, swellings, and toxic sores.
Chinese Name : 玳瑁
Latin Name : Eretmochelys imbricata L.
Aliases : Horned Tortoise, Horned Tortoise Shell, Horned Tortoise Carapace, Ming Damao, Patterned Carapace
Nature, Flavor & Meridian Tropism : Taste: sweet and salty; nature: cold; enters the Heart and Liver meridians
Benefits & Efficacy
Benefits
Clears heat and detoxifies; calms the heart and soothes the liver.
Indications
Used for fever-induced delirium, rambling speech, infantile convulsions, and abscesses, swellings, and toxic sores.
Usage and Dosage
Internal use: Decocted as a soup, 9–15 g; or ground into juice; may also be incorporated into pills or powders. External use: Apply an appropriate amount, ground into a powder and mixed with a carrier.
Precautions
Contraindicated in cases of deficiency-cold syndrome without fire-toxin.
Chemical Constituents
The carapace of the hawksbill turtle contains keratin, which includes various amino acids such as lysine and histidine;its body fat contains lauric acid, palmitic acid, myristic acid, stearic acid, arachidic acid, cinnamic acid, C14 unsaturated fatty acids, C16 unsaturated fatty acids, C18 unsaturated fatty acids, C20 unsaturated fatty acids, C22 unsaturated fatty acids, C24 unsaturated fatty acids, and non-saponifiable components.
Pharmacological Actions
Effects on Immune Function: The ethanol extract of hawksbill turtle shell exhibits only a slight in vitro inducing effect on T4- and T8-positive cells within the T-regulator cell subset of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.
Relevant Discussions
1. *Shixing Bencao*: “Treats wind-pathogen affecting the heart and relieves restlessness and fever.”
2. *Rihua Zi*: “Dissolves masses and nodules, eliminates abscess toxins, and stops convulsions and epilepsy.”
3. *Kaibao Bencao*: “Primarily used to counteract the toxicity of various herbs from Lingnan.”
4. *Bencao Yanyi*: “Treats wind-heat in the heart meridian.”
5. *Compendium of Materia Medica*: “Neutralizes smallpox toxins, calms the mind, treats sudden convulsions and external pathogenic factors, resolves heat accumulation in typhoid fever, and alleviates delirium.”
6. *Seeking the Origins of Materia Medica*: “Cools the blood and neutralizes toxins, promotes the circulation of qi and blood, facilitates bowel movements, and neutralizes the toxins of poisonous insects and various medicinal herbs. It preemptively neutralizes smallpox toxins, treats blackened and sunken smallpox lesions, and alleviates tearing eyes caused by exposure to wind.”
7. *Research on the Usage of Materia Medica*: “Calms the liver and alleviates convulsions; stabilizes the heart’s qi; enters the Heart meridian and governs blood; possesses detoxifying and antipyretic effects.”
8. *Modern Practical Chinese Herbal Medicine*: “Moderately lowers blood pressure; may be used as a preventive medication for stroke.”
9. *Qingdao Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine*: “Treats fever in children, convulsions and spasms, hypertension, and encephalitis.”
Applications
Related Compatibility
1. Tortoiseshell combined with Oyster Shell: Oyster Shell is salty and cold in nature, excelling at clearing liver fire while also nourishing liver yin; Tortoiseshell calms the heart, regulates the liver, clears heat, and detoxifies. When used together, these two herbs regulate the liver and subdue liver yang, treating conditions such as hyperactive liver yang, dizziness, headaches, and stroke.
2. Tortoise Shell combined with Water Buffalo Horn: Tortoise Shell calms the heart, regulates the liver, clears heat, eliminates toxins, subdues wind, and alleviates convulsions; Water Buffalo Horn excels at clearing real heat from the heart, liver, and stomach, cooling the blood, eliminating toxins, clearing the heart, and alleviating convulsions. As these two herbs have similar effects, their combination is used to treat high fever, mental confusion and delirium, convulsions and spasms, and acute febrile convulsions in children.
3. Tortoise Shell combined with Lithospermum: Tortoise Shell clears heat and detoxifies; Lithospermum cools the blood, promotes blood circulation, detoxifies, and promotes the eruption of rashes. When used together, these two herbs treat conditions characterized by excessive blood heat and toxin accumulation, where rashes fail to erupt properly and appear purplish-black and sunken.
4. Tortoise Shell combined with Coptis: Tortoise Shell subdues wind and calms convulsions, clears heat, and eliminates toxins; Coptis clears heat and dries dampness. When used together, this combination excels at clearing heat and eliminating toxins; it can treat fever-induced mania, mental confusion, and convulsions, as well as abscesses, boils, and toxic sores characterized by redness, swelling, and pain.
Medicinal Identification
Tortoise Shell and Antelope Horn: Both are salty and cold in nature, with similar effects in calming the liver, subduing wind, clearing heat, and eliminating toxins.They are used together for conditions such as extreme heat stirring wind, convulsions and seizures, as well as rashes caused by warm toxins in febrile diseases. However, antelope horn primarily enters the Liver Meridian, excelling in subduing wind and stopping spasms, and is also particularly effective at clearing the Liver and improving vision; tortoise shell primarily enters the Heart Meridian, excelling in opening the orifices, calming the spirit, and alleviating convulsions, while also nourishing the yin of the Liver and Kidney to subdue yang.
Related Prescriptions
1. For treating acute wind disorders and sudden malignant attacks characterized by failure to recognize people, a pale face, and cold limbs: 5 liang of raw tortoise shell (pounded and sifted into a fine powder), 5 liang of benzoin (simmered in wine until paste-like, then filtered through silk to remove residue), 2 liang of cinnabar (finely ground and washed with water), half a liang of realgar (finely ground), 1 liang of amber (finely ground),one liang of musk (finely ground), and one qian of borneol (finely ground). Grind all the above ingredients until uniform, then mix with the benzoin paste to form pills the size of a chicken’s head. Combine three he of a young boy’s urine with half a he of fresh ginger juice, warm the mixture, and administer three pills at any time. (Dai Mao Pills from *Shenghui Fang*)
2. For treating stroke-induced aphasia, mental confusion and oppression, as well as sudden onset of speech disorders: Half liang each of tortoise shell (chopped), cinnabar (ground), realgar (ground), and white mustard seeds; one fen of musk (ground). Pound the five ingredients into a fine powder, then grind them together for ten days. Separately, decoct one liang of benzoin in wine using a silver or stone vessel to form a paste, and use it to bind the mixture into pills the size of mung beans.Take ten pills at a time, washed down with warm urine from a young boy; take as needed, regardless of the time of day. (《Shengji Zonglu》, Tortoise Shell Pills)
3. For treating black, sunken smallpox lesions caused by stagnant blood in the heart: Grind raw tortoise shell and raw rhinoceros horn together to extract one he (1.8 liang) of juice. Add a small amount of pig’s heart blood and five spoonfuls of Lithospermum decoction, mix thoroughly, and take while warm. (《Treatise on Smallpox》)
4. To preemptively neutralize smallpox toxins and promote the progression of the disease, take this during the epidemic season; it will dissipate the disease internally before eruption or reduce the severity of eruptions if already present: Grind raw tortoise shell and raw rhinoceros horn separately to extract one he to of juice each. Mix them together, take half a he to while warm, three times daily. (*Ling Yuan Hong*)
5. To treat tearing eyes caused by exposure to wind, which results from deficiency-heat in the heart and kidneys: Grind one liang each of raw tortoise shell and antelope horn, along with a pair of stone swallows, into a powder. Take one qian per dose with peppermint decoction, once daily. (*Feihong Ji*)
Processing & Preparation
Harvesting & Processing
Hang a freshly caught live hawksbill turtle upside down and pour boiling vinegar over it to cause the scales on its back to fall off. Remove any remaining flesh and wash thoroughly.
Processing Methods
1. Raw Hawksbill Tortoise Shell: Take the raw material, scrub it clean, soak it in warm water until softened, cut it into fine strips, then dry or grind it into a fine powder.
2. Processed Hawksbill Tortoise Shell: Place talc powder in a pan and roast it over low heat. Add the cleaned hawksbill strips and stir-fry until the surface turns slightly yellow and puffs up. Remove from heat, sift out the talc powder, allow to cool, and grind into a powder.
Storage Methods
Store in a dry container in a cool, dry place.
Crude Drug Identification
Properties of Crude Drugs
This product appears as rectangular, rhombic, triangular, polygonal, or nearly circular plates, measuring 8–24 cm in length, 8–17 cm in width, and 1–3 mm in thickness. It is thicker in the center and thinner at the edges, which are as sharp as a knife blade and feature irregular serrations.The outer surface is smooth and lustrous, translucent, with irregular patterns alternating between dark brown and creamy yellow; the dorsal scutes feature raised ridges in the center, and the oblique cross-section reveals layered striations; the inner surface displays striations forming a cloud-like pattern. The texture is tough and resilient, not easily broken, with a horny fracture surface. It has a faint odor and a bland taste. Specimens with large, thick, translucent plates and prominent markings are considered superior.
Properties of Processed Slices
1. Tortoise shell powder appears as powder or irregular filaments. It is pale yellow-brown or grayish-yellow. One side of the filaments is smooth, while the other has white grooves; when held up to the light, dense, transparent specks are visible. It is tough and resilient, difficult to break, with a faint fishy odor and a bland taste.
2. Processed hawksbill resembles hawksbill fibers but is bulging and brittle. The powder is pale yellow.
Botanical Information
Morphological Characteristics
Body length: 60–170 cm. The head is covered with symmetrical scales, with two pairs of frontal scales. The nostrils are located near the tip of the snout. The snout is long and laterally compressed; the upper jaw is hooked; the beak resembles that of a parrot; and the jaw margins are serrated. In juveniles, the scutes on the carapace are arranged in an overlapping, roof-tile pattern, gradually transitioning to a flat, mosaic-like arrangement as the animal ages.The nuchal scutes are short and broad; there are five vertebral scutes with a distinct keel in the center; there are four costal scutes on each side, with the second being the largest; there are 11 marginal scutes on each side, and the marginal scutes begin to arrange in a sawtooth pattern at the location of the second pair of costal scutes; there are two anal scutes separated by a gap.The anterior margin of the plastron bears small throat scutes; on both sides, a ridge runs from the humeral scutes, through the pectoral, ventral, and femoral scutes, to the midpoint of the anal scutes. Two distinct ridges form on either side of the ventral midline; there are four lower marginal scutes on each side at the carapacial bridges, with several small scutes also present in the axillary and inguinal regions.The limbs are flat and paddle-shaped, covered with large scales. The forelimbs are larger and bear two claws, while the hindlimbs are short and bear only one claw. The tail is short and does not extend beyond the carapace. The carapace is reddish-brown or brownish-gray, glossy, and dotted with small pale yellow markings; the head and limbs are brown, and the plastron is yellowish-black with brown spots.
Distribution Area
It is distributed in Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and the Xisha Islands of Hainan, among other areas.