22 CHINESE MATERIA MEDIC A. 



AKEBIA QUINATA.— 7tc jg (Mu-t'nng). A drug 

 obtained from a Peking drug shop, bearing this Chinese name, 

 was sent to Kew and there examined. It proved to be Akebia 

 quinata. It was in thin slices, evidently the transverse 

 sections of a ligneous stem, half-an-inch in diameter ; the 

 marrow showing small holes like a sieve. In the Customs 

 Lists, 878, the drug is said to be derived from various species 

 of Clematis; "the export from Newchwang is probably 

 Clematis heracleoefolia^ that from Hankow is Clematis grata^ 

 while that from Ningpo and Canton has not yet been 

 determined." Loureiro and Faber identify it as Clematis 

 sinensis. 



It is a climbing plant, with a jointed, woody stem, varying 

 in thickness from that of a finger to about three inches in 

 diameter. The wood is yellow, and is arranged in vascular 

 plates, leaving tubular openings large enough for air to be 

 blown through ; hence the Chinese names, % jj (Mu-t'ung)and 

 j§ !^ (T'ung-ts'ao . This latter name, however, is also some- 

 times applied to Fatsia papyrifera. The twigs and fruit are 

 used in medicine. The fruit, which in the south of China is 

 called ipt ^ ^ (,Yen-fu-tzu) and .^ ^ ^ (Wu-fu-tzii), is from 

 three to four inches long, has a white pulp with black kernels, 

 is edible and of an agreeable, sweet taste. The wood is bitter 

 to the taste, and is pronounced to be a stimulating, diaphoretic, 

 laxative, diuretic, stomachic, and vulnerary drug, quickening 

 all of the senses and faculties. The fruit is said to be tonic, 

 stomachic, and diuretic. 



ALBIZZIA JULIBRISSIN.— ^ f; (Ho-huan), 373, -^ ^ 

 (Yeh-ho). This is one of the leguminosae of the suborder 

 MtmosecB^ and is also called Acacia julibrissin. Loureiro 

 calls it Mimosa arboi-ea. It is sensitive, the leaves folding 

 together at night, as the Chinese name implies. It is probable 

 that in this sense another name given by the Phttsao^ namely, 

 ^ ^ (Ho-hun), "uniting dark," is more nearly correct than 

 the first given above. It is considered to be an auspicious tree, 

 promoting agreement and affection, and therefore is given a 

 place among domestic shrubbery. Its leaves are also edible. 

 The parts of the plant appearing in the Customs Lists are the 



