Sub-end. 2 to
Encl: 1.
THE CHINA REVIEW,
between the flora of China and that of the United States.
The sole habitat of the species now noticed is the Lofau mountains, situated about fifty miles to the N.E. of Canton, where it has been seen growing at an altitude of about 3,000 feet.
As a drug it is consequently rare: the specimens purchased by some time ago of an itinerant Lofaushan medicine vendor, who happened to be in Hongkong, consisted of portions of the rhizome and rootlets, with petiole and leaf attached.
The nearly orbicular peltate leaves are about 6 or 7 inches in diameter: the petiole is from 12 to 14 inches long.
The use of the entire plant as a medicine seems to be restricted to the treatment of snake bites, bruises and sprains.
We are unable to refer with certainty to any native work mentioning this drug. Both the Pên tsao and Chih wu have descriptions and figures of a plant under the name C. Tuk keuk sin, M. Tu chio hsien, which do slightly resemble the characters of the Lofaushan species of Podophyllum; but it remains to be proved whether or not the two plants are identical. The Tu chio halen of the Pên tsao and Chih wu is said to grow on the mountains at the back of Foochow.
Jud. Flor. Sinene, p. 33; Ph. Journ. (3), xiv, 504; Annual report for 1880 of Director of Hongk. Bot. Gard, in Hongk. Gov. Gaz., Vol. XXX, p. 471.
11. Abutilon indicum, G. Don.
N. O. Malvacea.
Syu. Sida indica. Linn., et S. asiatica, Linn. Abutilon cysticarpum, Hance; A. graveolens, Seem.
冬葵子 (C—Tung kwai tsz.) (M—Tung k'wei tzŭ)
1. Pên tsao, Ch. XXXI., Fig. 519. Chih wu, Pt. 2, Ch. VIII., p. 61.
2. Flor. Hongk., p. 83.
3. Both Loureiro and J. Russel Reeves refer this name to Malva verticillata, Linn.
Pên tsao, Ch. XVI., Fig. 273; Chih wu, Pt. 1, Ch. III., p. 5; Pt. 2, Ch. III., p. 1.
HABITAT. Abutilon indicum has been found by European botanists in the Shantung, Chekiang and Kwangtung provinces of China; also in Hongkong. It is a native of tropical Asia, Africa and Australia.
DESCRIPTION, &c. The Tung kwei tzŭ of Chinese druggists have been regarded by some as identical with Musk-seeds, derived from Hibiscus Abelmoschus, Linn. In 1886 specimens from the drug shops were sown in the Botanic Gardens, and the plant turned out to be A. indicum. The seeds are ear-shaped, slightly compressed, 2 lines long and measure 1/8 inch at the broadest end: 100 weigh 23 grains. The testa is hard, of a dull brown colour, having a rather scurfy appearance under the microscope, non-hairy. Immature specimens are often distinctly cordate or reniform, with a marked depression in the centre. There is not the slightest odour of musk about them, not even when they are bruised.
Uses. According to the Chinese in Hongkong, the seeds are employed as an emollient and demulcent: the root is used as a diuretic and pulmonary sedative, and the flowers and leaves as a local application to boils and ulcers.
Porter Smith states that the seeds and the entire plant are used as demulcent, lenitive, diuretic, laxative and discutient remedies. Puerperal diseases, urinary disorders, chronic dysentery and fevers are treated with the seeds.
Tat. Cat. Med. Min., No. 169; Williams, Chin. Comm. Guide, p. 128; Lour. Flor. Cochin., p. 514; Dymock, Mat. Med. of W. Ind., p. 82.
1. Ind. Fl. Sin., p. 86.
2. This plant is known in Pekin by the name Chin Puei (Bretschneider, Ear. Eur. Res., p. 63) in Canton by the names 黄蜀葵 and Wong shuk kwai and Ko young fa (Parker, Canton Plants, p. 118),
3. Cont. to Nat. Med., p. 112.
NOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA.
Debeaux. Since the publication of these works, some further light has been thrown on the subject, and grave doubts, to say the least, are now entertained: as to the source of many drugs heretofore ascribed to a particular genus or order.
Another reason why Notes on Chinese Materia Medica should appear in an irregular order, is, that a prominent position may be given, at once, in this journal, to certain drugs which have of late excited some interest amongst Botanists and Pharmacologists in Europe.
As often as possible the drugs of a single natural order will be dealt with together. The authors in every case will affix their own number and in addition add the number originally awarded to the Pên tsao drugs by the late Daniel Hanbury, F.R.S. This latter step has not only been taken to facilitate reference---each of Hanbury's numbers refers to a corresponding number of an illustration in the Pên ts'ao.
Mandarin: Kou wen; Cantonese: Kau man.
1.-Gelsemium elegans, Benth.
N.O. Loganiaceæ. Pên tsao, No. 375.
Cantonese: Kau mŭ; Tŭk kan.
Mandarin: Kou min; Yeh ko; Tu kên.
I. 鉤吻 II. 野葛 III. 毒根 IV. 大門毒 V. 斷腸 VI. 黃藤 VII. 火把花
Gelsemium elegans has not been alluded to in any previous contribution to Chinese Materia Medica.
DESCRIPTION. A glabrous, woody, evergreen twiner; stem, near the root, of a greyish-brown colour, having, on the surface, several warty processes; the upper part of the stem green. Leaves, opposite, 2 to 13 inches long, ovate-lanceolate, very acute at apex, entire, somewhat rounded at base on
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