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.

    79/638 (page 69)
    Han Pao-sheng [10th cent.]:—The plant grows in a bushy manner, about one foot high. One stem (petiole) bears three leaves, which do not fall off in winter. The flowers are of a yellow colour. The drug produced in Kiang tso [S. An hui, Iviang su, App. 124] is like a string of beads, that from Shu (Sz ch‘uan) does not show this peculiarity. Now the best sort is considered to come from the country of Ts‘in [Shen si, App. 358], also from Hang cliou [in Che kiang, App. 58], Liu cliou [in Kuang si, App. 199]. Su KuNG [7th cent.]:—This plant is produced in Shu [Sz clffuan, App. 292], in Kiang tung [Kiang su, Che kiang, App. 124], and in Li chou [in Hu nan, App. 185]. The drug from the latter place is the best. Su Sung [11th cent.]:—The plant grows in Kiang and Hu [Mid China, App. 124, 83], in King chou [in Hu pei, App. 146], K‘ui chou [in Sz elduan, App. 170] and Siiau ch‘eng [in An hui, App. 315]. The drug from the latter place is of a superior quality. Inferior sorts come from Shi [in Hu pei, App. 288], Iv‘ien [N. Kui chou, App. 141], Tung yang [in Chekiang, App. 376], Hi chou [in An hui, App. 62], Ch‘u chou [in Che kiang, App. 23]. The plant is one foot high, the leaves resemble those of the kan kit (sweet Chrysanthemum, unknown to me). In the 4th month it bears yellow flowers, in the 6th it produces fruits like those of the Cm (celery) and likewise yellow. Li Shi-chen :—At the time when Li Tang-chi wrote his herbal, at the end of the Han dynasty, the huang lien from Shu [W. Sz chffian] was considered the best. In the T‘ang period the drug from Li chou [r. supra'] was preferred. Now the drug used in medicine comes from Wu [Kiang su, App. 389] and Shu [Sz ch‘uan]. The best is that produced in Ya chou and Mei chou [both in Sz ch'uan, App. 398, 219]. There are two sorts of huang lien. One has a coarse root destitute of hair (radical fibres), and forming a series of