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.

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    officinal. Taste sweet. Nature cold. Non-poisonous. The young sprouts and the flowers are also used in medicine. Pie lu :—The mao hen grows in the country of ClTu [Hu kuang, App. 24], in mountain valleys and fields. The root is dug up in the Oth month. T‘ao Hung-KING :—It is now called ^ 'gf pai mao kien. The root resembles the cJia Pin (a kind of celery), is of a sweet, pleasant taste. Su Sung [11th cent.]:—It is a common plant. Its sprouts, which shoot forth in spring and cover the ground, are like needles. The people call them ^ mao clien (mao needles). These sprouts are edible and good for children. In summer the plant bears white, plushy flowers, and withers in autumn. The root is very white. It is dug up in the 6th month. The plant kien is a kind of mao. Li Sfli-CHEN :—There are several sorts of mao, viz. the pai (white) mao, the kien mao, the liuang (yellow) mao, the hiang (fragrant) mao, the | pa mao. The leaves in all these plants are the same (for they are all grasses). The pai. mao plant is short and small. In the 3rd month it bears white flowers in panicles, followed by small fruit (seeds). The root is white, very long, flexible like a tendon, provided with joints, of a sweet taste. The people call it j§& l s~l mao (floss silk mao). The plant can be used for thatching. It is likewise employed for wrapping up things offered in sacrifice. This is the drug mao ken, spoken of in the Pen king. The dry root, at night, gives out a light, and after decaying changes into glow-worms. The pai mao is a grass, Impevata. Tor further particulars see Bot. sin., II, 459. The Oust. Med. [p. 278 (76)] notices the mao ken as exported in a small quantity from Amoy, and [p. 344 (89)] c. 290 piculs imported from Hong kong into Canton. It is not stated from what Chinese port it was brought to Hong kong. 12