What is the market price of cicada slough per catty?
Cicada slough, also known as cicada molt or cicada skin, is the cast-off shell after the emergence of the black cicada (Cryptotympana atrata), an insect of the Cicadidae family. It is a commonly used medicine for dispelling wind and clearing heat, cool in nature, sweet and salty in taste, with the effects of dispelling wind and clearing heat, ventilating the lungs and soothing the throat, promoting eruption and relieving spasms. It is often used to treat wind-heat common cold, cough with hoarse voice, measles that will not erupt, rubella with itching, red eyes with nebula, boils and toxic swellings, and tetanus. Let us take a look at the market price of cicada slough below!
The market price of cicada slough
Wild cicadas are becoming fewer and fewer, and the price of cicada slough has risen year after year. The current market price is about 220 yuan to 240 yuan per kilogram, and water-washed goods are usually about 20 yuan higher than ungraded goods.
How to identify genuine and fake cicada slough
1. Genuine product: The whole form resembles a cicada but is hollow, slightly oval and curved, with a tea-brown surface, semi-transparent, glossy, 3-4 cm long and 1.5-2 cm wide. The whole body is covered with yellowish-brown fine hairs. The head has 1 pair of antennae, thread-like, mostly broken off. The compound eyes protrude, transparent. The front of the forehead protrudes, the mouthparts are well developed, the upper lip is broad and short, and the lower lip is extended into a tube shape. The back of the thorax has a longitudinal split or a cross-shaped split, with the split edges curling inward. On both sides of the back there are 2 pairs of small wings, the front pair longer and the rear pair shorter. The ventral surface has 3 pairs of legs; the front legs have saw teeth at the tips of the femur and tibia, and the tip of the tarsus has 2 small spines. The teeth and spines are all dark brown. The middle and hind legs are both slender. The abdomen is bluntly rounded, with 9 segments from head to tail end, and the tail is triangular and bluntly pointed. The body is light, membranous, and easily broken. It has a faint odor when smelled and a bland taste when chewed.
2. Counterfeit product: The common counterfeit cicada slough is the shell of Platypleura kaempferi, which looks somewhat like the genuine cicada slough, oval and curved, but smaller than the genuine product, about 1.7 cm long and about 1 cm wide, with a grayish-brown surface, semi-transparent or opaque, slightly glossy. The head also has 1 pair of thread-like antennae, and the back of the thorax also has a cross-shaped split, but the split edges do not curl inward.
The effects and actions of cicada slough
[Nature and taste] Sweet and salty in taste, cool in nature.
[Meridians entered] Lung and Liver meridians.
[Effects] Disperses wind-heat, soothes the throat and opens the voice, promotes eruption, improves vision and removes nebula, extinguishes wind and stops spasms. Used for wind-heat common cold, early stage of warm disease, sore throat and hoarse voice, measles that will not erupt, rubella with itching, red eyes with nebula, acute and chronic infantile convulsions, tetanus, and restless night crying in children.
1. Dispersing wind-heat: Used for wind-heat common cold, early stage of warm disease, sore throat and hoarse voice.
2. Extinguishing wind and stopping spasms: Suitable for convulsions in children caused by extreme heat, and for tetanus.
3. Red eyes with nebula: This product enters the Liver meridian and is good at dispersing wind-heat from the Liver meridian, thus having the effect of improving vision and removing nebula. Therefore, it can be used to treat red, swollen and painful eyes and nebula covering the eyes caused by wind-heat attacking upward or Liver fire flaming upward, often used together with chrysanthemum, Tribulus fruit, cassia seed, plantain seed, and the like,
4. Sedative effect: Both cicada slough and Wuhu Zhuifeng San can inhibit the free activity of mice, have a synergistic effect with cyclobarbital sodium, and can cause systemic reactions in rabbits such as reduced activity, quietness, decreased striated muscle tension, and sluggish righting reflex.