VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 73 



They have a warm, bitter, and aromatic flavor. The medical 

 properties attributed to these are almost innumerable, amon 

 which may be mentioned their use as stimulant, carminative, 

 stomachic, deobstruent, astringent, and anthelmintic remedies. 

 They are even recommended for sterility and barrenness. A 

 piece of a branch is used as a suppository in obstipation. The 

 root and bark are used as astringent and anthelmintic remedies, 

 and in the treatment of rheumatism. 



BRASENIA PELTATA.— ^(Shun). Called ^|^ (Shun- 

 ts 'ai) in Kiangnan, where it is eaten as a vegetable. It is also 

 called 7jc ^ (Shui-k'uei), *' water mallow." The stem is 

 purple and mucilaginous, aud it and the leaves on the under 

 surface are covered with a viscid jelly. It bears yellow flowers 

 and a greenish purple fruit. The plant is good for feeding to 

 pigs, and is therefore also called |f ^ (Chu-shun). Although 

 it is not regarded as at all poisonous, its continued use is thought 

 to be deleterious, injuring the stomach, destroying the teeth and 

 hair, and producing caries in the bones. If eaten in the 

 seventh month, when it is liable to be wormy, it is thought to 

 produce cholera. As the Chinese eat it raw, or but slightly 

 cooked, and as it grows in filthy ponds and streams, some of 

 these evil effects, said to arise from its ingestion, can easily be 

 accounted for. Its medical qualities are considered to be 

 antithermic, anthelmintic and vulnerary. It is recommended 

 as a local application in cancer, favus, and hemorrhoids. 



BRASSIC A.— Notwithstanding the fact that this genus 

 contains some of the best known and commonest garden plants 

 of China, the identifications and nomenclature are in a very 

 uncertain state. This is probably due to the fact that cultiva- 

 tion has changed the species in many particulars, and also that 

 many of the varieties found in China are distinct from those 

 found in the west. Brassica chinensis^ ^ H (Pai-ts'ai), called 

 ^ (Sung) in the PentsaOy is a most common variety of Brassica 

 oleracea. This vegetable is considered to be cooling aud anti- 

 vinous. Its prolonged and excessive use is thought to be 

 slightly deleterious, causing an itching eruption and retarding 

 recovery from disease. Ginq^er is antidotal to its deleterious 



