VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 5 



throughout China. The root and leaves are parts used in 

 medicine. It is prescribed in sterility and barrenness, and is 

 said to have great virtues in these conditions. In decoction it 

 is used in corneal affections and ulcerations of the eye after 

 exanthematous diseases. 



ACER TRIFIDUM.— £ '^ M (San-chio-feng). It is 

 uncertain whether the leaves reported in the Customs Lists are 

 from this tripartite maple, or whether they are the leaves of 

 the Liquidamber forfiiosana {orientale). There is not much 

 uniformity of classification of this substance at the different 

 ports; at one place it being called "oak leaves", which, to 

 say the least, is a bold guess. The Chinese names for Acer 

 trifidiim^ in addition to the one given above, are |5 ;fH 1^ (Ya- 

 feng-shu), 1481, and IH jfj[ i^ (Feng-hung-shu). Bretschneider 

 and the Japanese have been followed in the use of the term 

 placed at the head of this paragraph. This tree is not mention- 

 ed in the Pentsao^ and what its leaves may be used for (if, 

 indeed, it is the leaves of this tree that appear in commerce) 

 it has not been possible to learn. The supply reported by the 

 Customs came from Anhui and Kiangsu. 



ACHILEA SIBIRICA.— ^ (Shih). This is a common 

 plant in the mountains of Northern China, and is so identified 

 by the Japanese. Legge calls the Shih plant milfoil. Wil- 

 liams, in his dictionary, says it is a sort of " syngenesious plant 

 resembling the Ayithcmis or mayweed, the Ptarniica sibcrica^ 

 which grows around Confucius' grave in Kiihfeu, and as was 

 done in ancient times, is still sold there in parcels of sixty-four 

 stalks for divination ; the stems were once used for hair-pins". 

 In the Historical Record (^ |5) it is said that a hundred stalks 

 of the Shih plant come out of the same root. "Where this 

 plant grows neither tigers, wolves, nor poisonous plants are 

 found." The Shuo-wen (^ "^ says : "The Shih is a kind of 

 Hao (^' Artejnisid). The plant will yield, when a thousand 

 years old, three hundred stalks. The lengths of the stalks 

 used for divination were : for the Son of Heaven, nine feet ; 

 for the feudal princes, seven feet ; for the high officers, five 

 feet ; and for the graduates, three feet." 



