MATERIA MEDICA OF THE ANCIENT CHINESE. 181 
of hemp?). The outer skin of the fruit is red. It contains 
black seeds. The root is purplish red. The people dis- 
tinguish the female and the male ma huang plant. The 
male produces neither flowers nor fruit. 
Lt Sut-cuEen :—Its root, which is about one foot long, 
has a yellowish red skin. 
Ch.y XI, 51:—Ma huang. The drawing seems to be 
intended for Hquisetum. 
Lovr., Fl. cochin., 823 :—Equisetum arvense. Sin. ma 
huam. 
Tatar., Cat., 37:—Ma huang, Ephedra.—P. Smita,’ 
93 :—Ephedra flava.—The drug which I received under the 
name of ma huang from an apothecary’s shop in Peking— 
slender yellow or green stems or branches of a plant, 
cut into small pieces—proved to belong, on microscopical 
examination, to Lphedra. E. vulgaris is a common plant 
in N. China and Mongolia. The description of the ma huang 
in the P. agrees with Ephedra. 
Phon zo, XVI, 18 :—)if $§ Equisetum arvense. 
Ephedra (order Gnetacee), with its leafless branches, has 
a slight resemblance to Equisetum, which is a eryptogamous 
Plant. Zphedra has yellow flowers, male and female flowers 
on different plants, and produces red, edible berries. 
Cust. Med., p. 12 (91) :—Ma huang exported 1885 from 
New chwang 966 piculs,—p. 36 (199), from Tien tsin 
213 piculs,—p. 74 (107), from Han kow 66 piculs,—p. 194 
(161), from Ning po 31 piculs. 
Cust, Med., No. 801:—Ma huang, Ephedra vulgaris, 
Rich. var, helvetica, Hook. & Thom. 
98.—F fit $3 shi lung chu. P.,XV,90. T., CLXXVI. 
— Pen king :—Shi lung ch‘u (stone dragon grass), #8 2g 
lung sii (dragon’s moustaches), §§ HK lung chu, Ge Hi BR ts‘ao 
