MATERIA MEDICA OF THE ANCIENT CHINESE. 809 
name of the fruit, 8 7 hi tsi. The root, fruit (seeds) and 
the flowers are officinal. Taste of the root sweet and pungent. 
Nature uniform. Non-poisonous. Taste of the seeds sweet. 
Non-poisonous, 
Pie lu:—Other names FE 2 lu huo,” BE FR huang kin. 
The ko ken grows in Wen shan [in Sz ch‘uan, App. 388] 
in mountain-valleys. The root is dug up in the 5th month 
and dried in the sun. 
Tao Hune-Kixa :— Now the people use the ho fen root 
for food, and eat it steamed. It is a large root which 
penetrates deep into the earth. It is broken to pieces and 
dried in the sun. The best comes from Nan k‘ang and Lii 
ling [both in Kiang si, App. 229, 208]. It has much flesh 
and but few fibres, is of a sweet pleasant taste, but as a 
medicine it is unimportant. 
Su Kuya [7th cent.]:—The ko root penetrates into the 
ground from 5 to 6 inches. The upper part is called #3 fig 
ko tou (neck of the ko). It has emetic power and is somewhat 
poisonons. 
For further particulars regarding the ko, which is the 
Pachyrhizus Thundergianus, 8 & Z. (Pueraria Thunbergiana, 
Benth.), a plant much cultivated in China and Japan for its 
textile fibres and for its edible root [see Bot. sin., Il, 390] 
T defer a more detailed account of this plant to another part 
of my Botanicon sinicum. 
Tavar., Cat., 26 :—¥% Pk ko ken. Lignum griseum, and 
4s) UE TE ho t'ia0 hua, Flores Pachyrh'si trilobi.—Ko t*iao at 
Peking is a common name for the wild- growing creeper 
Pachyrhizus Thunbergianus, — P. Surru, 88, sub Dolichos 
trilubus, 
Henny, Chin. pl., 176 :—$§ RB ho t’eng, Pueraria Thun- 
bergiana. The root is made into ko jen, an arrowroot-like 
preparation. 
® This name is properly applied to another plant, See 260, 
