VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 7. 



Canton, silk is mixed with the fiber in various proportions, 

 making different qualities of cloth. Three crops of the fiber 

 are said to be gathered in a year. 



Medicinally, the root and leaves are used. The former is 

 reputed as quieting to the uterus. It is recommended in 

 threatened miscarriage. It is also considered to be cooling, 

 demulcent, diuretic, and resolvent. It is used in wounds from 

 poisoned arrows, snake and insect bites, and in decoction for a 

 local application in rectal diseases. The leaves are used in 

 wounds aud fluxes as an astringent. 



BOMBAX MALABARICUM.— Tf; t,?j ^I (Mu-mien-shu). 

 The Pentsao with difficulty distinguishes between this tree and 

 the cotton plant, for the reason that it produces its cotton in a 

 sort of boll. But it is a large tree, with a red flower like that 

 of the Camellia. The fruit has a white, silky down covering 

 the seeds, which may be used to stuff cushions, and is said to 

 be capable of being worked up into a rough cloth. This down 

 is called % ;|^,f, f^ (Mu-mien-hua, 870. The root, 871, and 

 leaves are for sale in the Chinese shops, as is also the down. 

 This latter is burnt, and the ashes given in menorrhagia, and 

 used to staunch the blood of wounds. What the other parts 

 are used for does not appear. The Customs Reports say that the 

 substance known as \% |[^ ^ (Hai-t'ung-p'i), 357, and |I^ ^ 

 (T'ung-pi), 1402, as exported from Canton, are the bark of this 

 tree; that exported from Ningpo being probably the bark of 

 Acafithopanax ricmifoliu77t (which see). The bark of the cotton 

 tree is said to be emetic and astringent. It could probably be 

 substituted for that of Aca7ithopanax. 



BOSWELLIA. — According to Hanbury, the olibanum 

 produced in India, which is probably the only sort that finds its 

 way to China, is derived from Boswellia glab^'a and Boswellia 

 thtirifera. The Chinese name of the drug is ^ j^ ^ (Hsiin- 

 lu-hsiang) or ^ ^ (Ju-hsiang), 563. The second of these 

 names either refers to the nipple-shaped pieces which part of 

 the product assumes, or else is a translation of the Hebrew 

 term Icbonah^ signifying "milk." In Buddhist books the 

 olibanum is called 5c ^ fr (T'ien-tse-hsiang), ^ ^ -^ ^ 



