Identification & Quality Standard
Concha Ostreae
Botanical Origin
The shell of Ostrea gigas Thunberg, Ostrea talienwhanensis Crosse or Ostrea rivularis Gould.(Ostreidae). Harvest year-round, removes flesh, clean and dry.
Production Regions
Primarily produced along the coast in the Chinese provinces of Fujian, Shandong, Liaoning, and Guangdong.
Quality Requirements
Superior medicinal material has firm texture, clean inner surface, white color.
Macroscopic Features
Ostrea gigas Thunberg: Long lumps, dorsal and ventral edges are mostly parallel, 10~50cm long, 4~15cm tall. Right shell is relatively small, scale is firm and thick, layered or layered arranged. Outer surface is flat or with numerous depressions, pale purple, grayish-white or yellowish-brown, inner surface is porcelain-white, two sides of apex have no small teeth. Left shell deeply indented, relatively large scales, apex has small attachment. Hard texture. Layered fractured surface, white. faint odor, slightly salt taste. Ostrea talienwhanensis Crosse: Sub-triangular, dorsal and ventral sides are separated. Right shell outer surface is pale yellow, with loose eccentric scales undulating wavy shape, inner surface is white. Eccentric scales of left shell are firm and thick, numerous radial rays from the apex to the ribs, obvious, inner surface is indented forming box-like shape, and linked surface is small. Ostrea rivularis Gould: Round, oval-triangular, right shell surface is slightly uneven, gray, purple, brown, yellow, ringed-shaped concentric scales, young shell has thin and brittle scales, after growing for years, the scales become layered, the inner surface is white, and edges are slightly pale purple.
