Witnessed by: TCM

Stiff silkworm (Bombyx mori), of the Bombycidae (Insecta) family. The mulberry silkworm larva, killed and stiffened in its fourth or fifth instar by the white muscardine fungus; native range: the silk-rearing districts of China; the drug is collected from the trays when the fungus takes the worms. Globally recognized as jiang can (僵蠶 / 白僵蠶) in Chinese, byakukyosan (白彊蚕) in Japanese, and stiff silkworm, white muscardine silkworm in English. The part used is the dried stiffened larva. Stiff cylindrical bodies, greyish-white under a floury bloom, ringed and brittle, snapping to show a dark glossy gut ring at the centre, the smell faintly rank.

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