ABSTRACT
Ranae Oviductus has a good tonic effect and is commonly used for both medicine and food. The use of Ranae Oviductus was confused because the origin of Ranae Oviductus was roughly recorded in ancient herbal literatures. In order to clarify the confusing literatures and trace the origin of Ranae Oviductus，this paper conducted a textual research on the name，origin，distribution，harvesting and processing，efficacy of the Chinese medicine by consulting ancient herbal books，modern literatures and monographs of traditional Chinese medicine. The results of the textual research showed that Ranae Oviductus belongs to Manchu medicine，which was first applied by the Manchu people because of its tonic effect. The original animal of Ranae Oviductus has many names，which are all translated from Manchu language. By analyzing the descriptions of Ranidae in various herbal books，it is concluded that the earliest description of the original animals of Ranae Oviductus appeared in the Shengjing Tongzhi compiled by Agui in the Qing dynasty. After summarization of the taxonomic changes of some species of Rana，the original animals of Ranae Oviductus were preliminarily determined as Rana dybowskii，R. amurensis and R. huanrenensis. We excluded R. huanrenensis by its size and R. amurensis by its poor quality. Therefore，the original animal of Ranae Oviductus is R. dybowskii，the main production area is northeast China and the best capture time is in October. Ranae Oviductus is often eaten after being stewed. The study can provide the effective basis for the identification of the original animal of Ranae Oviductus，the distribution of production area and the utilization of resources.