Botanicon Sinicum: notes on Chinese botany from native and Western sources. Part 3, Botanical investigations into the materia medica of the ancient Chinese / [E. Bretschneider].

  • Emil Bretschneider
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Botanicon Sinicum: notes on Chinese botany from native and Western sources. Part 3, Botanical investigations into the materia medica of the ancient Chinese / [E. Bretschneider]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Lour., FI. cochin., 5 :—Amomum medium, sinice tsao quo (]p! ^H). Pericarpium oblongum, striatum, crassum, coriaceum.—Tatar., Cat., 5:—Tslao kuo. Fructus Amomi medii.—This is the Ovoid China Cardamom figured and described in Hanb., Sc. pap., 105, 106, 250 :—P. Smith, 14. Cust. Med., p. 372 (433):—Ts‘ao (tou) Pou exported 1885 from Canton 0.2 picul. Ibid., p. 372 (434) :—Tslao kuo exported from Canton 653 piculs,—p. 406 (164), from Kiung chow 428 piculs,— p. 424 (132), from Pak hoi 402 piculs. The drawing in the Phon zo [IX, 21, 22] sub jpi ^ represents, it seems, Loureiro’s Amomum globosum, of which only the fruits are known to European botanists. Q JaL x!i Pae' t°u h‘ou (white Cardamom) is the Chinese name for the Cardamom imported from foreign countries. P., XlVa, 37. T., CXLYII. The seeds are used in medicine. It does not seem to be mentioned in Chinese works before the 8th cent. Ch‘en Ts‘ang-k‘i [8th cent.]:—The pai tou klou is produced in the country of Ka-ku-lo, and is called there ^ to ku. The plant resembles the pa tsiao (Musa, Banana). The leaves resemble those of the tu jo [Alpinia. See 55]. They are from eight to nine feet long, shining, evergreen. Flowers of a pale yellow colour. The fruit is produced in clusters, hanging down like grapes. They are at first green but become white when ripe. They are gathered in the 7th month. Su Sung [11th cent.]:—This plant is now grown in Kuang chou (Kuang chou fu) and in I chou [in Ivuang si, App. 103], but the drug is inferior in value to that brought by foreign ships.