VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 29 



has white flowers and a characteristic foliage, and the plant 

 has an alliaceous odor, from which fact it derives its name. 

 It is recommended as an appetizer and digestive, giving a 

 pleasant sensation of warmth to the stomach and acting as a 

 carminative in flatulent dyspepsia. 



ALOCASIA MACHRORIZA.— ?^ ^ (Hai-yii). This 

 aroid plant is so named in the Japanese lists. The Phitsao 

 calls it also H •^ jH (Kuan-yin-lien), which in the Japanese 

 identifications is Lysichihnn camtschaieiise. Also, a small 

 variety, named ^ ^ ( Yeh-yii), is by them classified as 

 Richardia africafta. The Phiisao seems to regard these as 

 identical. The original habitat of the plant under considera- 

 tion is said to have been Szechuen, but it now is found in 

 various parts of the empire. It grows up in spring with a stalk 

 four or five feet high and with leaves like the taro. In the 

 early autumn it blooms with a sessile flower like the lotus petal, 

 jade colored, and with a pistil which resembles the image of 

 Kuanyin. Hence the common name for the flower is 

 *'Kuanyin lotus." The plant is said to be exceedingly 

 poisonous, and is highly recommended in the treatment of 

 miasmatic poisoning. 



ALOE VULGARIS.— l: % (Lu-hm\ 765. Bretschneider 

 says that this Chinese name is so applied in Canton, and that 

 the plant that Loureiro describes as Aloe perfoliata is the same. 

 The name is probably a transliteration of some foreign name, 

 as other names similar in sound are also given, such as ^ -^ 

 (Nu-hui) and fft % (No-hui). The drug is also called ^ |§ 

 (Hsiang-tan), "elephant's gall," in reference to its bitter flavor. 

 The Phitsao describes it as the exudation from a tree which 

 grows in Persia, and says that at that time it entered China only 

 at the port of Canton. It admits, however, that it is uncertain 

 whether the substance, which it describes as a resin or extract 

 (W)> is the product of a tree or of a smaller plant. The sub- 

 stance sold under this name is met with in irregular pieces, 

 about one inch in thickness, of a coal-black color, slightly 

 porous and marked with brilliant crystals on the broken 

 surface. One surface is usually marked with the impression 



