102 BEY. M. J. BERKELEY ON SOME TUBEEIEOEM 



On some Tuberiform Vegetable Productions from China. 

 By the Eev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A., P.L.S. 



[Read AprU 15th, 1858.] 



Some months since I received, by the kindness of Professor Hora- 

 ninow, two tuberiform productions from China, of wliich one was 

 nearly allied to Mylitta australis, Berk., and the other, marked 

 Pachyma Coniferarum, Horaninow, was evidently identical with 

 the Tuckahoe or Indian Bread of the United States, PacJiyma 

 Cocos, Fries. 



At a later period, specimens of a drug, known in China under 

 the name of Pe-foo-ling, were shown by Mr. Daniel Hanbury to 

 Mr. Kippist, who at once pointed out their identity with Lyco- 

 •perdon solidvm of the ' Flora Virginica,' Pachyma Oocos, Fries. 



The subject was brought to my especial notice by Dr. Hooker ; 

 and having ascertained the identity of the productions of Mr. 

 Hanbury and Prof. Horaninow, I thought that a short note on it 

 might possibly be acceptable to the Society ; and the more so, as 

 Mr. Hanbury has a second production very nearly allied, while I 

 am in possession of a third very distinct though allied substance, 

 through Prof. Horaninow. 



The best introduction to my note will be an extract from a 

 letter received by me from Mr. Hanbury : — 



" There are two Chinese esculent Fungi, which I think are 

 worthy of notice. My attention was first drawn to them while 

 examining some specimens of Chinese Materia Medica, by stum- 

 bling on the following passage in Loureiro's 'Flora Cochin- 

 chinensis' (ed. WiUd. 1793, p. 710) :— 



" ' Ad radices Pinorum sylvestrium magnse longaevitatis in pro- 

 vincia boreali Chinensi Su chwyen gigni solent qusedam tubera, 

 subrotunda, magna, scabra, fusca, intus albissima, quae ab Europseis 

 vocantur Badix Sinensis alha, a Cochinchinensibus Bach phuc linJi, 

 ab ipsis vero Sinensibus Pefu Un. Horum tuberum decocto fe- 

 liciter utuntur in praxi medica, praecipue in morbis pulmonum et 

 vesicae. 



" ' Eadix Sinensis rubra provenit ex diversa planta, quae a Lin- 

 naeo dicitur Smilax China.'' 



" Nor was my curiosity diminished by finding in Endlicher's 

 ' Enchiridion Botanicum ' (p. 144) the following allusion to the 

 same subject : — 



" * In annosis Binus Massoniance Lamb, radicibus apud Sinas 

 gigni solent tubera (vulgo Be-fu-lin, Eadix Sinensis alba) magna, 



