Witnessed by: TCM

Tortoise plastron (Mauremys reevesii), of the Geoemydidae (Reptilia) family. A small freshwater turtle with a low keeled carapace, of ponds and slow water; native range: Reeves' turtle of the ponds, canals and slow rivers of China, Korea and Japan; now largely farmed, the wild animal much reduced. Globally recognized as gui ban (龜板 / 龜甲) in Chinese, and tortoise plastron, Reeves' turtle plastron in English. The part used is the plastron — the belly plate — cleaned and dried. Flat yellowish plates with a horn-like sheen and the seams of the scutes still showing, hard and heavy in the hand, faintly fishy, and mustier the longer they weather.

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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