Witnessed by: TCM

Pillbug, woodlouse (Armadillidium vulgare), of the Armadillidiidae (Malacostraca) family. A small flattened land crustacean, its back plated in overlapping grey armour, seven pairs of legs beneath, rolling into a tight ball when disturbed; native range: originally Mediterranean Europe, now cosmopolitan; in China gathered from damp ground under stones, rotting wood, walls and cellars. Globally recognized as shu fu (鼠婦), shi zhu (石蛀), qian ping chong (潮虫) in Chinese, and pillbug, woodlouse, roly-poly, sowbug in English. The part used is the whole animal, dried. A dried grey to slate-brown oval body, often curled shut into a ball, segmented and brittle, light in the hand and crumbling to a greyish powder; faintly fishy and sourish, with a mousy smell.

In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.

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