30 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



of a gramineous leaf. The taste is bitterish and cooling, and 

 it is not regarded as being poisonous. Althelmintic, stomach- 

 ic, and laxative properties are referred to this drug, which 

 would seem to have been formerly much used in the worm- 

 fever and convulsions of children. It is now used mainly as 

 a wash for eczematous skin affections, being combined with 

 licorice for that purpose. Since in the treatment of worm 

 affections it is always combined with the fruit of Qtiisqualis 

 hidica^ it is very improbable that in itself there are any anthel- 

 mintic properties. 



ALPINIA GLOBOSUM.— S ^ (Tou-k'ou), 1314, % S 

 ^ (Ts'ao-tou-k'ou). This is the Amomwn globosum of Lou- 

 reiro, and described by Hanbury as the large 7'ound Chi?iese 

 cardamom. The cardamoms are well known in commerce, 

 but the plant from which they are derived, does not seem as 

 yet to have been carefully identified by botanists. Hanbury 

 says that it is a native of the south of China and of Cochin 

 China. The Phitsao refers its origin to Hainan, which name 

 in this w^ork often refers to any country in the seas south of 

 China. At present it is said to be found in all parts of Kuang- 

 tung and Kuangsi, as well as in parts of Yunnan and Fukien. 

 The plant is said to resemble the Myristica in appearance, and 

 bears a red, changing to yellow, flower in the axils of the 

 leaves, which has some likeness to the Hibiscus. The leaves 

 resemble those of the wild ginger ( jl] ^, Shan-chiang), and 

 are sometimes gathered in the immature state in a similar 

 manner to tea buds. The large globular capsules furnish the 

 large round cardamom of commerce, and also the small round 

 Chinese carda?nom described by Guibourt. This latter is 

 simply the unripe capsule, and therefore devoid of much flavor, 

 but used as a salted condiment by the Chinese. Guibourt 

 describes it as follows: '* Capsules nearly spherical, from 

 seven to eight lines in diameter, slightly striated longitudinally 

 and much wrinkled in all directions by drying ; it is probable, 

 however, that the fruit was smooth when recent. The capsule 

 is thin, light, easily torn, yellowish externally, white within. 

 The seeds form a globular coherent mass. They are rather 

 large and few in number, somewhat wedge-shaped, of an 



