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.

    36/638 (page 26)
    T‘ao Hung-king :—There are five drugs to which the name shen (Ginseng) is applied,8 viz. the jen shea (true Giuseng), the sha shen (the plant under review), the ^ ^ hit an (black) shen [y. infra 18], the [ tan (red) shen [y. 20], the ^ [ /Su (bitter) shen [u. 34]. These are termed the “five shen:' There is also a drug called tsz‘ shen [purple shen, v. 21]. The sha shen grows in the central provinces. Its leaves resemble those of the kou /Si (.Lycium). The root is white, juicy. Su Kung [7th cent.]:—The best drug comes from the Hua slian mountain [in S.E. Shen si, App. 86]. Su Sung [11th cent.]:—The sha shen is common in the central provinces. The plant grows in the mountains, in a* bushy manner, two feet high. The leaves resemble the kou /Si [y. supra], vary in size, are pronged (or lobed). In the 7th mouth it opens its violet flowers. The root resembles the mallow root and is about the size of a finger, of a reddish yellow colour outside, white within, juicy. Li Shi-chen :—The name sha shen (Sand Ginseng) refers to its growing in a sandy soil. The name ,pai shen (white Ginseng) is applied to it on account of the white juice contained in the root. The sha shen is a common mountain plant. When it first begins to grow, in the second mouth, the young leaves resemble those of the shui ISui (water mallow, Limnanlheminn), but are thinner, not shining. In the 8th or hth month it is from 1 to 2 feet high. The leaves are collected around the stem ; they arc long, pointed, resemble those of the kou /Si but are smaller in size and toothed. In autumn small violet flowers appear between the leaves ; they resemble a bell in shape, the corolla is live- lobed. The filaments are white. Sometimes the corolla is also white. The fruit is as large as that of the tuny ts‘ing * Comp, infra, 20.