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.

    53/638 (page 43)
    depths of the high mountains ; no other plants are found near it. The root is very large and has twelve smaller tubers of the size of a hen’s egg on the sides. The people use the tubers for food. T‘ao Hung-king :—The chli tsien is a kind of ^ chi [plant of immortality, properly a Fungus, v. infra, 266]. It has a stem like the tsien /can [a reed used for arrow-shafts. Bot. sin., II, 564] of a red colour. The leaves grow at the top. The root is very large, resembles that of the yil (Colo- casia antiquorum), has twelve secondary tubers on the sides. The plant is not moved by wind, it moves only in still air. In the Yao sing Pen ts‘ao [7th cent] this plant is termed fp, ch‘i tsien chi (red arrow chi). Su Kung [7th cent.]:—The chli tsien is a kind of chi [e. supra]. The stem resembles the tsien Jean [«. supra] is of a red colour. The flowers and the leaves, which are likewise red, are at the top of the stem. It has wings like an arrow. The flowers open in the 4th month. The fruit resembles a decayed Pu lien [Melia. V. 321]. The kernels are five or six angled and contain a mealy matter. When dried in the sun it is spoiled. The root is juicy, from five to six inches long, has ten and more smaller tubers on the sides. It is eaten raw, for in a dry state it is uneatable. In the Klai pao Pen ts‘ao [10th cent.] the plant in question is called ^ tHen ma (heavenly hemp) and said to grow in Yiin chou [in Shan tung, App. 421], Li chou [in Shan tung, App. 184], T‘ai shan [in Shan tung, App. 322], Lao shan [in Shan tung, App. 180]. The root is dug up in the 5th month and dried in the sun. Its leaves resemble those of the shao yao (Pcconia alhijlora) but are smaller. From the midst of them rises a straight stem resembling the tsien /can [r. supra]. The fruit is produced