Omphalia (Omphalia lapidescens Schroet. — the dried sclerotium of a fungus)
Nature and flavour. Slightly bitter, cold. Stomach and Large Intestine systems. Sources differ on whether it is counted as slightly toxic; the contemporary pharmacopoeia does not list it as toxic.
One of the very few fungal drugs in the Chinese materia medica: the drug is the sclerotium of a wood-decaying fungus rather than any part of a plant. Traditional texts describe it as killing parasites and reducing accumulation, and it is recorded for roundworm, hookworm and tapeworm. Its best-documented property is a negative one — the parasitical action is attributed to a protease that is destroyed by heat, which is why the classical sources insist it is taken as a powder and never decocted. The traditional indications are recorded rather than established by controlled human evidence.
性味归经。微苦，寒。归胃、大肠经。各书是否列「有小毒」记载不一，现行药典未记其有毒。
中药里极少数以真菌入药的一味：用药部位是木生真菌的菌核，并非植物的任何部分。传统记载为杀虫消积，用于蛔虫、钩虫、绦虫。它最确切的一条性质反而是「不耐热」—— 驱虫作用被认为来自一种蛋白酶，受热即被破坏，故古籍强调作散剂而不入汤剂。所载用途属传统记载，未被对照人体证据证实。
不作自用。因有效成分不耐热，传统剂型为散剂而非汤剂 —— 这一点确有实质意义，煎煮的制剂按理会失去作用。人体安全性数据有限；各书是否列有小毒记载不一。孕期与哺乳期避免使用；本品味寒，脾胃虚寒者不宜。真菌类药与任何野生采集品一样存在来源问题：非正规渠道所获者，其品种、基质与贮存霉变均无一致标准。可疑的肠道寄生虫感染须靠粪便检查确诊，不应自行用药。
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