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.

    40/638 (page 30)
    Pie lii:—The hie keny, which is also called Q ||| pai yao (white drug), ^ Ip! keny tshio, grows in the mountain valleys of Sung kao [in Ho nan, App. 317] and in Yuan kii [in S.W. Shan tung, App. 415]. The root is dug up in the second month and dried in the sun. Wlt P‘u [3rd cent.]:—The hie keny is also called f'JjB // ju, fu ini, fry j||] fang hit. Its leaves resemble those of the tsi ni [r. 5], The stem is like a pencil of a purple colour. It begins to grow in the second month. T‘ao Hung-king :—The Me keny is a common plant in Mid China. The young plant can be eaten boiled. It is also used as a vermifuge. The root is fraudulently substituted for the true Ginseng. Su Sung [11th cent.]:—Its root is as thick as a finger, of a yellowish white colour. The plant grows one foot and more high. Its leaves resemble apricot leaves but are longer, and stand opposite, four together. Can be eaten boiled. In summer it opens its small blue flowers resembling those of the Mien niu (Pharbitis). The root is dug up in the 8th month. It has a heart [comp, above, sub. 3]. The root of the tsi ni has no heart. Li Shi-chen :—The Me keny and the tsi ni are plants of the same order. The difference is that the tsi ni is sweet and the Me keny is bitter. Therefore the tsi ni is also called strati hien (sweet) hie keny. The plant Me keny represented in the Ch. [VIII, 11] is Platycodon yrandifiorum, A. DC.—See also Kin /many [XLVIL, 1]. Bad drawing. The drug Me keny is described and depicted in Gauger [49]. Tatar. Cat., 58, Me keny. Radix Platycodonis grand!- jlori.—P. Smith, 173.