VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 1 3 



It is probable that the Acorus terrestris and the Acorns 

 gramineus furnish the greater part of the product to the 

 commerce of China, although it is reported as Acorus calamus 

 from several ports. The provinces from which the larger part 

 comes aie Szechuan, Kuangtung, and Kuangsi ; while 

 Chekiang, Anhui, and Honan are mentioned as additional 

 sources of supply. The plant is artificially cultivated to supply 

 the demand for its sword-like leaves, which are hung up at the 

 Dragonboat festival on the fifth day of the fifth moon of each 

 year. (See the article on Ariefuisia. ) The drug is met with 

 in the form of brittle, brownish-yellow, broken rootlets, 

 irregularly ridged, and not inaptly compared by the Chinese to 

 whip-cord. They have an agreeable smell, and the interior is 

 white and starchy in texture and of a sweetish aromatic flavor. 

 As the rhizome proper is a more efiicient drug, it is probable 

 that it is also employed, although it is not so often found in the 

 samples passing through the Imperial Customs. Stimulant, 

 tonic, antispasmodic, sedative, stomachic, diaphoretic, anti- 

 periodic, and other properties are referred to this drug, which 

 has some excellent virtues, as confirmed by many trustworthy 

 observers in India and Europe. Its insecticidal and insectifugal 

 properties are understood by the Chinese, who refer its 

 prophylactic powers to some such influence. It is worth while 

 remembering that in Constantinople this drug is largely eaten 

 as a preventive against pestilence. The powder, the juice, and 

 a tincture are the favorite methods of exhibition with the 

 Chinese, who use it in haemoptysis, colic, menorrhagia, and 

 other fluxes, and apply the juice or coarse powder to carbuncles, 

 buboes, deaf ears, and sore eyes. It is said to be antidotal to 

 the poison of euphorbiaceous plants. The leaves are used to 

 wash pustular eruptions and leprous sores. The prolific 

 flowering of the plant is said to betoken large harvests. 



ACTEA SPIC ATA.— Under the Chinese name of ff- % 

 (Sheng-ma , 1132, the roots of a number of Ranunculaceous 

 plants are found in the markets ; such as Actea spicata^ Astilbe 

 chinensis^ Astilbe thunbergi^ Ciniicifuga dnurica^ Cimicifuga 

 foetida^ and Cimicifuga japonica. Porter Smith, following 

 Hanbury, who in turn had followed a wrong identification by 



