VEGETABLE KINGDOM. IC7 



of J^ ;f^ rLu-cliu), which is another name for the *' cumquat,*' 

 or golden orange. Just how this name came to be applied by 

 foreigners to the fruit of the Eriobotrya is uncertain, as the 

 Chinese books do not indicate any such use. However, it 

 seems that this term has gained currency in California, where 

 this fruit is now extensively grown. The fruit, leaves, flowers, 

 and inner bark of the tree are used in medicine. The fruit, if too 

 freely eaten, is thought to injure the spleen, and if taken with 

 roast meat and hot bread will produce jaundice. Medicinally, 

 it is employed to relieve thirst and nausea and to palliate 

 cough. The most important medicinal virtues are ascribed to 

 the leaves (1012). In decoction, they are used to relieve vomit- 

 ing and cough, as well as in local application to ulcers, nose- 

 bleed, wine nose, chapped face, and smallpox ulcers. The 

 flowers are used in coryza. If the bark is chewed and the juice 

 swallowed, it is said to relieve nausea and vomiting. 



ERIOCAULON.— ^ ^ % (Ku-ching-ts'ao), 619. Sev- 

 eral species of this genus go under the same Chinese name. 

 That mentioned in the P^ntsao is a troublesome weed in fields 

 springing up after the grain has been harvested, and supposed 

 to be produced spontaneously from the aura of the grain ; hence 

 its name, "grain essence grass." It bears small leaves and 

 tiny, star-shaped flowers, and in reference to this last fact it 

 receives several names. The plant is fed to horses, with a 

 view to preventing or curing intestinal worms. The flowers 

 are used in medicine, especially in hemicrania and other head- 

 aches. They are also used as an astringent in nosebleed 

 opacity of the cornea, especially that following smallpox, and 

 as an anodyne in cephalic diseases and sunstroke. The drug, 

 as described in the Customs list, comes in bundles of the dried 

 herbage. 



ERITRICHIUM PEDUNCULARE.— H % i^ (Chi- 

 ch'ang-ts'ao). This is the same as TrigoiiHis pedtmc7ilaris. 

 It is a common plant in gardens and courtyards. Children 

 express the juice of the plant and mix it with spider web to 

 use for catching cicadas. When chewed, the plant produces 

 a very viscous juice. It is used in medicine as a diuretic, and 



