-BOTANICON SINICUM. 
NOTES ON CHINESE BOTANY, FROM NATIVE 
AND WESTERN SOURCES. 
By E, BRETSCHNEIDER, M.D, 
—_— — 
ee 
INTRODUCTION. 
While bringing before the public a new instalment of my 
Botanicon sinicum, I have to apologize for the long interval 
which has elapsed, nearly ten years, since the appearance of 
the first or general part. The delay was occasioned for the 
most part by scientific oceupation in other fields. 
The subject to be dealt with in the subsequent pages is the 
Chinese names of plants occurring in the Chinese Classies and 
some other Chinese works of remote antiquity, and their 
botanical identification, as far as the scanty ancient records 
regarding these plants and the present state of our knowledge 
of the Chinese Flora will permit. The edition of the Chinese 
Classics in an English translation, first undertaken by an 
accomplished scholar, thirty years ago, is now nearly com- 
plete, and this gigantic work has imperishably connected 
_ the name of the eminent sinologue referred to with these 
Records of ancient Chinese civilisation, The first five (i.e. 
eight) volumes of Dr. Leaax’s Chinese Classics, published 
in — reproduce the Chinese text. It is a matter 
