EXPLANATION OF NAMES OF HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 23 
1.—¥% #8 Expianation or Names or HeRBACEous Puanrs. 
1.—## Ya; ql dE Shan kiw, wild or mountain Kiu (Allium). 
E., 55, family 4g. 
XE is also written JE. Zi #ialso BP. Shwoh W. RR. H.74, ESE 
Alium tuberosum, Reg.=Allium odorum, L. 
A., XV, 178, All. uliginosum, Don & A. 
Hf, 75, the wild species=A. Thundergii, Don. 
The notes inserted in the text are by the Rev. Dr. E. Faner. 
Lack of time has prevented a comparison of each figure in the 
Chinese works quoted with specimens of plants collected in China 
and identified at Kew, of which between three and four thousand 
species are in Dr. FaBer’s possession. It is to be regretted that the 
seats of ancient Chinese civilization along the Yellow River have not 
yet been botanically explored. Botanical investigations in China 
throw light on some difficult questions relating to Chinese antiquity. 
Here we need merely note the striking differences between the names 
of plants in the Shi ding and the corresponding ones in the Rh ya. 
_ We must assume that an interval of several centuries separates these 
two works. To the difference between the pronunciation at the period 
about 300 A.D. and that of the present day, Dr. BRETSCHNEIDER has 
alluded. It would be of great interest to learn what plants and trees 
were known and utilized at certain periods of Chinese history. An 
_ insight into the progress of Chinese civilization would by this means be 
gained. 
The following abbreviations are used in the Notes :— 
A. = Journal of C. B. R. A. &. 
B, = Bowra’s list of plants in DooLITTLE’s Handbook. 
C. = Customs’ List of Chinese Medicines, 1889. 
E. = Imp. Encyclopedia & 4S lal aH fe Rk. 
Hf, = Dr. A. Henry, 
P. = Pen ts‘ao 7 ¥A, dit. in 52 small vols. 
_Pr.= ParKkgEr’s Names of Canten Plants, 
S. = Sun ts‘ai t'w huei = YZ fa @. 
Sm.= Porter Situ, Chinese Materia Medica. 
- Quotations in the text are not repeated in the notes, - 
