PLANTS MENTIONED IN CLASSICAL WORKS. 193 
toa fern. The Phonr zo [XLLX, 29, 30] figures under this 
name Osmunda regalis, L. But this plant also has no thorns. 
There is a plant which in China and Japan is termed & #% — 
(the white we). The So moku [1V, 26-29, 31] figures under 
this name various species of Véncetoaicum. 
Fap., 1538, Osmunda regalis, L., var. japonica, Milde, a 
» 2330, Vincetoxicum atratum, Morr. & Decn., 8 fe 
good figure, v. Z., 157, and énfra, 468. 
379.— 3 BE Shu yi. This name of a plant is repeatedly 
met with in the Shan hai king. Kuo P*o says that it has 
an edible root, resembling that of the 36 J yang ti (Rumec). 
In Kiangnan the name is written 2% 3% shu yi. The root 
is light or heavy. 
— The Kuang ya writes $$ #§ shu yi, and with the latter 
name it is described in P., XXVII, 33, as a climbing plant, 
both wild and cultivated, with edible roots, a purple stem, 
shining tlree-cornered leaves resembling those of the # 4 
Kien niw (Pharbitis triloba) ; flowers in spikes, followed by 
three-angled capsules. The seeds are produced by the side ; 
they are of various sizes, greater and smaller, resembling the 
nodules of the GH lei wan (Mylitta lapidescens). [The 
Chinese authors mean, it seems, axillary bulbils, not seeds. ] 
The plant is also called (ly 388 shan yao (mountain drug) 
and Uf 3F shan yé (mountain ture). 
Shan yao is nowadays the common name in North China 
for the cultivated yam, Dioscorea japonica, Thbg. In other 
parts of Ghina the same name is applied to D. Batatas, Dene., 
and other species. Hunry, /.c., 412 :—Shan yao in Hupei is 
dD. quinqueloba, Thbhg., also D. japonica. A good drawing 
of Dioscorea in Ch., ILL, 25. [See also the Aiu a LI, 
15, and LIX, 32.] 
Amen, exot., 828, BE #§ dsojo, vulgo jumma imo. Herba 
Montana scandens, radice esculenta pingui, longa, carnosa, 
