MATERIA MEDICA OF THE ANCIENT CHINESE. 449 
is better. It represents a Cinnamomum with large leaves 
having three nerves. 
Lour., Fi. cochin., 305 :— Laurus Cinnamomum, L. 
Sinice : kuei an (kui shu). Habitat agrestes in altis montibus 
Cochinchine, ad Occidentem, versus Laosios : ubi queeeunque 
invenitur arbor truncatur et excorticatur. Rami crassissimi 
dant vile Cinnamomum, quod plerumque abjicitur, quia longi 
itineris expensee pretium superant. Tenuior cortex, a supremis 
ramis avulsus, Zeylanico crassitie eequalis, odore et sapore - 
acerrimus non magni cestimatur, eoque utuntur indigene ad 
condiendos cibos. At mediorum ramorum cortex, lineam fere 
Crassus, optimum et pretiosum prebet Cinnamomum, que 
utuntur in Medicina, et multo altiori pretio venditur, quam 
Zeylanicum. Hujus oleum per destillationem abundantius 
extrahitur: color est rubro-fuscus, acrifudo minus acuta, 
sapor multo dulcior Cinnamomo Zeylanico.—Laurus Cinna- 
momum, I, is the Cinnamomum Zeylanicum, Br. But 
Louretro’s plant is a new species—Cinnamomum Loureiri, 
Nees, in DC. Prodr., XV, 1, 16. : 
J. Reeves, in his Account of Chinese Materia Medica, 
1828, writes :—Vast quantities both of Cassia seeds and 
Cassia lignea are annually brought from Kwang si [whose 
Principal city derives its name from the forests of Cassia 
around it] to Canton and thence shipped off at about 
24 dollars per picul to England, while the Chinese themselves 
use a much thicker bark, unfit for the European market. 
WitutaMs [ Chinese Commercial Guide, p. 118] notices 
the RE He kavei p%, the decorticated bark of the Cinnamomum 
Cassia,—the 1 | HH fwet pi yu, Cassia oil, obtained from 
the leaves and twigs of the Cassia tree by distillation,—the 
HE BE hwei chi, Cassia twigs, the extreme and tender ends of 
the branches, such as are used in distilling the oil,—the he F 
Kwet ta:*, Cassia buds, the fleshy ovaries of the seeds, and 
obtained from the same tree as the bark. 
57 
