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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$ifi jq' | [ hi ku (chicken - bones’) sheng ma. Another sort is produced in Pei pu [see App. 244]. It is juiceless, large and of a yellow colour. A third sort, which comes from Kien p‘ing [App. 139], is also large, of a feeble taste and not much used. It is known by the name of lo sin fu and reputed for neutralizing poison. A decoction of the leaves is used in infantile diseases. Ch‘en Ts‘ang-ki [8tli cent.]:—The lo sin fu is now more commonly called the /J> J|| siao (little) sheng ma. Medical virtues the same as those of the sheng ma. Ma Chi [10th cent.]:—The sheng ma which is brought from Sung Kao [in Ho nan, App. 317] is of a green colour. It has less power than the drug from Shu [Sz clTuan, App. 292]. Su Sung [11th cent.]:—The sheng ma is produced all over Mid China. The best sort comes from Shu clTuan [Sz clTuan, App. 292]. The plant grows three feet high. Its leaves resemble hemp-leaves. In the 4th or 5th month it produces white flowers arranged in a spike like that of the su (Setaria). The fruit is black. The root is like the root of the hao (Artemisia) of a purplish black colour, covered with hair (radical fibres). Li Shi-chen :—The name sheng ma is derived from the resemblance of the leaves to hemp - leaves. Its common name nowadays is J|| J\‘ cliluan sheng ma (sheng ma from Sz clTuan). Ch., VII, 18 :—Sheng ma. Rude drawing. The name sheng ma seems to be applied to various ranunculaceous and saxifragaceous plants. The sheng ma is noticed in Grosier’s Chine [HI, 349, chine ma~\. Tatar., Cat., 53 :—Sheng ma. Radix.$