VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 2$ 



(Ku-hsieh), ]g ^ (Mang-yii), and ^j ^, (Yii-sun) ; this last 

 name being in honor of the Great Yii, the reputed founder of 

 the Hsia dynasty, who drained the empire of the great flood 

 that had prevailed up to the time of his reign. In the classics 

 the plant is called ^ (Yii) and ^ (Hsieh). In the Japanese 

 list it is called y^ -^ \% (Shui-tse-hsieh). The supply of the 

 drug passing through the Customs comes from Fukien, Che- 

 kiang, Honan, and Szechuan. The Pentsao recommends that 

 which grows south of the Jii ('^) river, which is a tributary 

 of the Huai. The parts used are the leaves, which are 

 gathered in the fifth moon ; the rhizome, gathered in the 

 eighth moon ; and the achene, gathered in the ninth moon. 

 The rhizome, which is the part most frequently employed, is 

 globular, or ovoid, and fleshy. The drug is generally met 

 with in the form of thin, circular sections, from one inch to 

 one inch-and-a-half in diameter, of a pale yellow color, mealy, 

 'slightly bitter in taste, and often worm-eaten. The fresh 

 rhizome is somewhat acrid. Tonic, cooling, diuretic, arthritic, 

 stomachic, astringent, galactogogue, and discutient properties 

 are attributed to this plant. In fact, any disease of the nature 

 of a flux or dropsy, or disease of the hydrology of the system, 

 is supposed to be benefited by this water plant. "If taken 

 for a long time, the eye and ear become acute, hunger is not 

 felt, life is prolonged, the body becomes light, the visage 

 radiant, and one can walk upon water." It is also said to 

 render labor easy, to stimulate the female generative apparatus, 

 and to promote conception. The leaves, in addition to their 

 other properties, are reputed to be serviceable in leprosy. The 

 action of the achene is said to be similar to that of the root, 

 even to the production of visual radiance, but its use is said 

 to produce sterility. 



ALLIUM ASCALONICUM.— ^ (Hsieh). This is the 

 ordinary garden shallot ; the slight variation from the European 

 variety being produced by the different method of culture 

 employed by the Chinese. It is indigenous to China ; the wild 

 variety being readily found in the Lii mountains of Kiangsi. 

 The seeds are usually planted in the autumn and the small 

 bulbs separated and transplanted in the spring. It is used .as 



