VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 33 



that this term is sometimes so employed, but it is also employed 

 for the Liliaceous Polygonatum sibiricuni. In 1091, other 

 characters approximating ^ in sound are used for this 

 character. It is probable that these are wrongly written. In 

 several other places there are variations, unimportant in 

 themselves, but which evidently need correction. 



ALTH^A ROSEA.— ^ ^ (Shu-k'uei). This name 

 means "mallow from Szechuan." Another name, formerly 

 used, is ^ ^ (Jung-k'uei), which means "mallow of the 

 wild tribes of the west." These two names are probably 

 identical with each other. Tlie term used in the classics is ^ 

 (Chien). It is the common hollyhock^ which may have 

 been originally introduced into China from some Western 

 country. It is cultivated plentifully in Chinese gardens; its 

 flowers somewhat resembling Hibiscus syriaais (7^ j;^, Mu- 

 chin). The parts of the plants used are the shoots, root-stalk, 

 and seeds. The properties ascribed to the shoots are stomachic, 

 regulative, and constructive. They are used in fevers, 

 dysentery, and to render labor easy. The root-stalk is con- 

 sidered to be diuretic, and when bruised, is applied to all sorts 

 of ulcers. The seeds are put to similar uses. 



Under this head the Phitsao mentions another plant, 

 which it calls ^ ^ ^ (Wu-k'uei-hwa), and which, while it 

 is identified as the same as the sJm-lcHtci^ is made out to have 

 medical properties sufficiently distinct from those of the latter 

 to render it probable that this is at least a different variety. 

 Its taste is said to be "saltish and cold" (|g), while that of the 

 shu-k^tcei\s "sweet and cooling " (j^). Its action is tonic to 

 the heart and antiperiodic. It is used in the eruptive and 

 intermittent fevers of children, in dysmenorrhoea, difficult labor, 

 and the bites of poisonous insects. 



AMARANTUS.— ^ (Hsien). This term seems to be a 

 general name for Amarantus. With qualifiers, it is also by 

 some applied to Chenopodium and Euxolus. At Peking 

 Amarantus blitum is so called, and Faber calls this ^ |g 

 (Hsien-ts'ai). The Phitsao says that there are six varieties of 

 this plant, viz., # Er 6 E, A M, ^ M, £ ^ E and .^ 1;. 



