VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 197 



GNAPHALIUM MULTICEPS.— 1| m ^ (Shu-clm- 

 ts'ao). Other names are M 5 (Slin-erh) -^ 5 i^ (Fo-erli ts'ao), 

 320, ^ ^ (Mi-cbli), M t^^ ^ (Wu-hsin-ts'ao), ^ ^ (Hsiang- 

 mao), ^ ^ (Huang-hao), and ^ # (Jiing-mii). This is an 

 artemisia-like plant, growing principally in northern China, 

 with a whitish, hirsute leaf, and bearing yellow flowers. Hence 

 one of the names, "yellow artemisia." The medicinal action 

 of this plant is regarded as decidedly anti-malarial and anti- 

 febrile. It is also prescribed in coughs and diseases of the 

 lungs and air passages. 



GNAPHALIUM POLYCEPHALUM. — ^ ^ (Yiin- 

 ts'ao"). This is a fragrant plant with sessile leaves, both the 

 ■white flowers and the scabrous leaves having fragrance. For 

 this reason it is much cultivated in gardens. The odor is very 

 persistent, and it is said that fleas, lice, and moths do not like 

 it. Because of this latter fact, the plant is frequently put under 

 the bed mats and into books to drive these insect pests away. 

 No medicinal properties are ascribed to it. 



GOMPHRENA GLOBOSA.— "^ jfl (Pai-jih-hung). 

 No part of this beautiful tree seems to be used in medicine. It 

 is much cultivated in gardens as an ornament, and the name 

 refers to its long period of flowering. The flowers are small, 

 red, and fragrant. They are sometimes called "^ ^ ^ (Tiug- 

 hsiaug-hua). 



GOSSYPIUM HERBACEUM.— :t $$ (Ts'ao-mien), ^% 

 ^ (Mien-hua). This malvaceous plant, which yields the 

 cotton wool, and which is the same as Gossypitim indiaim^ is 

 not distinguished in Chinese works from the sterculiaceous 

 Bombax malabaricu7n^ the cotton tree. The reason for this 

 probably appears in the fact that the cotton tree was known in 

 China from very ancient times, and its cotton was used by the 

 Chinese in the manufacture of cloth before the introduction of 

 the cotton plant, which probably took place about the XI 

 Century, coming by the way of the south, either by foreigners 

 trading with the Chinese, or by the Mongol conquerors of 

 China, who about the same time brought it from the west and 



