MATERIA MEDICA OF THE ANCIENT CHINESE. 403 
255.—FY #F mu su. P., XXVIL,8. 7, LXXIL 
Pie lu:—Mu su. The leaves and the root are used in 
medicine. Taste bitter and harsh. Non-poisonous. 
T‘ao Huna-xine :—In Chang an [in Shen si, App. 6] 
the mw su is cultivated in gardens. It is much valued by 
the people in the north. In Kiang nan [Kiang su, An hui, 
ete., App. 124] it is not much eaten, because it is tasteless. 
There is a plant named mu su, growing in foreign countries, 
which is used in diseases of the eye, but that is a different 
plant. 
Mene Suen [7th cent.]:—Where the mu su grows the 
people use the root [as a medicine] and call this drug 
rh iG EE tu huang ki [native huang ki. See above, 2]. 
K‘ou Tsune-sut [12th cent.]:—It abounds in Shen si 
[App. 284], where it is used for feeding cattle and horses. 
The young leaves are also eaten by man. The plant has a 
4 perennial root, and when cut off it thrives again. 
Lt Sui-cuen:—The ancient authors write the name 
also By 44 mou su and Ae HE mu su. The Si king tsu kt 
[written about our era] reports that the mu su was originally 
brought to China by Caane K4en [in the 2nd cent. B.C. 
See Bot. sin., I, p. 24] from Ta wan (Ferghana) and soon 
became a common wild plant. The people of Shen and 
Lung [Shen si and Kan su, App. 284, 216] cultivate it. 
It is cut thrice a year and grows again from the root. 
The leaves are used as food. One plant has twenty or 
more stems like the hui t%tao [Chenopodium. See Bot. sin., 
II, 446]. Three leaves at the top of a common petiole 
(trifoliate leaves). The leaflets resemble. those of the Ade 
ming [ Cassia. See 110], but are smaller, of the size of a 
finger-nail. It flowers from summer until autumn. Small 
yellow flowers and small, roundish, thin pods, curved, twisted, 
