VARIANT NAMES: Haimalin, Haicao (Sea Grass), Eelgrass.
ORIGIN: The whole grass of Zostera marina [Zosteraceae] .
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION: Dried kelp contains 0.71% of nitrogen, 4.81% of protein, 1.2% of fat, 8.82% of pentosan and zosterin, galacturonic acid, galactose, arabinose, xylose, α-methyl-xylose, tannin, vitamin B2, rich iodine and so on.
NATURE AND FLAVOR: Salty in flavor and cold in nature.
EFFICIENCIES AND INDICATIONS: Softening indurated mass and resolving phlegm, inducing diuresis and expelling pathogenic heat. It is used to treat Hyperthyroidism, tumor, Tuberculosis, mass in the abdomen, hydrops and beriberi. Nowdays it is used mostly to treat simple goiter.
DIRECTIONS: To be decocted, boiled, steamed for oral adminitration, or used as an ingredient of a prescription.