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

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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$T‘ao Hung-king :—The hiian shen is a common plant in Mid China. Its stem is like that of the true ginseng but higher. The root is very black, slightly fragrant. The Taoists use it as a perfume. Su Rung [7th cent.]:—The yuan shen has a disagreeable smell. Its stem does not resemble that of the ginseng. It is unknown to the author that the drug is used as a o perfume. Ma Chi [10th cent.]:—It has a square stem, from four to five feet high, of a brown colour, covered with fine hair. The leaves are large, like the palm of the hand, and sharp. The fresh root is greenish white, succulent ; when dried it becomes purplish black. Sc Sung [lltli cent.]:—The leaves stand opposite, resemble those of the chi ma \_Sesamiun. See 21(1]. They are long, serrated. The stem is slender, of a purplish green colour. In the 7th month it opens its greenish flowers, in the 8th month it produces black fruits. Another kind has white flowers, a large square stem covered with fine hair. The root consists of from five to seven different pieces. Li Shi-chen :—The yuan shen which is now used, is that described by Su Sung. Su Rung is right in stating that the root has an unpleasant smell. It is perennial and frequently worm-eaten, and therefore full of holes. The flowers are purple or white. It is also called M hei shen (black ginseng) or |)ij]i ye chi. ma (wild Sesamum). CL, VII, 43 : — Yiian shen. The drawing is too indistinct to permit of identification. Tatar., Cat., 48 :—Jinan shen, Radix.—Gauger, 40, the same root described and figured.—Hanb. [Ac. pap., 255] also describes this root. It is internally fleshy and black. R. Smith, 104:—Black Ginseng. 8$