



IV.-T'ANG-SHEN. 



{Codonopsis Tangshen, Oliv.) 



(With Plate.) 



E. H. Wilson. 



average 



ChTneJT 2"j£5 ° f . t , he drug roW-lhin, an important 



Ch nese drug, accredited with tonic and aphrodisiac properties 

 and largely used as a substitute for the valuable and costly 

 bmseng, is the species described by Professor Oliver as Codonopsis 

 langshen in Hooker's Icones Plantarum, t. 1966. A copy of the 

 figure there given, for which Kew is indebted to the kindness of 

 the Bentham Irustees, accompanies this note. The species has 



ssfew- from a living exampie ' in the Bot ' ink " 1 



The part used is the thickened root, which varies from the 

 thickness of a lead pencil to nearly an inch in diameter. When 

 broken these roots emit a milky sticky juice, and the whole of 

 the root when bruised has a curiom and not very pleasant odour. 



Codonopsis Tangshen is common in the margins of thickets 

 above 4,000 feet in Hupeh, Szechuan, and apparently also in 

 bhensi. These wild plants are searched for by medicine- 

 gatherers, the roots dug up, dried in the sun or artificially tied 

 up in various ways and imported to all parts of China. Hankow 

 is the principal port of export for this drug and on an 

 some 8,500 piculs (about 500 tons) are exported annually. 



The drug has many trade names, according to its source and 

 the manner in which it is packed. Thus, T'ang-shen from 



Szechuan is distinguished as Ch'uan-t'ang ; 

 Hupeh (Fang district) is distinguished as Fang-t'ang ; 

 Shense (Fang district) is distinguished as Hsi-t'ang. ' 



Feng-p'i (Feng-p'i fang, Hung-t'ang) is the name applied when 

 the drug is fastened into bundles with red cord. Hsiang-t'ang is 

 the drug selected and packed in boxes. Pao-t'ang is the name 

 applied when the drug is packed in bales. The different grades 

 are valued at from taels 3.00 to taels 15.00 per picul. 



An inferior kind is furnished by Codonopsis lanceolata, Benth. 

 and Hook, fil., which grows associated with C. Tangshen. 



From the province of Shansi is exported a different kind of 

 T ang-shen distinguished as La-t'ang (meaning T'ang-shen from 

 the Lu-an prefecture in Shansi). This Lu-t'ang is probably 

 furnished by Campanumoea pilosula, Franch., a plant first 

 discovered by Pere David in the neighbourhood of Peking. 



It is probable that other species of Campanumoea and Codonopsis 

 yield a kind of T'ang-shen in different parts of China. 



The Chinese drug Ming-t'ang-shen is supposed to possess 

 similar properties to the true T'ang-shen, and is exported in fairly 

 large quantities from the province of Anhwei, through the port of 

 Wuhu, and in small quantities from the Kiangsn province by 

 way of Chiukiang. The source of this drug is not actually 

 known, but there is reason to believe it to be the product of 

 Adenophora poli/morpha, Ledeb. 



