200 CHINESR MATERIA MKDICA. 



numerous, and are said to look like snake's eyes ; hence the 

 name. True to Chinese therapeutical principles, this plant 

 is used only as an application in cases of snake bite. 



GYMNOTHRIX, Alopeciinis. —^ ^ ^ (Lang-wei- 

 ts'ao), ^ (Lang), ^ fj (T'uug-lang), ^ ^ (Ivang-mao), ;£ 

 (Meng), ^ 13 ^ iSu-t'ien-weng), ^ [g ^Shou-t'ien). In all 

 probability these terms may not all relate to the same species. 

 The second term would seem to be generic, while the first is a 

 very good translation of the English name, "fox-tail." This 

 grows in China, as it does in other parts of the world, in damp 

 fields. The seeds are used, though scarcely medicinally ; as 

 they are said, if used as food, to prevent hunger .' Under this 

 article in the Pentsao a related plant is mentioned, which is 

 called pj ]^ (K'uai-ts'ao). This is Scirpus (which see). 



GYNANDROPSIS PENTAPHYLLA.— j^ ^ % (Pai- 

 hua-ts'ai), ;^ ^ ^ (Yang-chio-ts'ai), This is a cultivated 

 vegetable of the gardens. It is described as having a weak 

 stalk, spreading out in branches with pinnatifid leaves. In the 

 autumn it bears a white flower with long petals, and produces 

 a small horn about two or three inches long (the seed capsule ?). 

 The seeds are black and tiny, and are gathered for use as 

 medicine. There is also a yellow flowered kind. If taken in 

 excess, the drug produces flatulence and a sense of oppression 

 in the stomach. Medicinally, it is used as a carminative, and 

 the decoction is employed as a wash for piles and for rheumat- 

 ism and malarial disorders. 



GYNOCARDIA ODORATA.— ;J^C M, •? (Ta-feng-tzu). 

 These seeds are imported into China from Siam. The large 

 tree which yields them is common in Cambodia, Siam, the 

 Indien Archipelago, Malaysia, Assam, and other parts of 

 Eastern India. The whole order (Bixineae) to which this tree 

 belongs is tropical and poisonous. The large, round, indehis- 

 cent, succulent, capsular fruits, compared by the Chinese to the 

 cocoanut, contain very many matted, ovoid, irregular, com- 

 pressed, grayish-brown seeds. They vary from a half to seven- 

 eighths of an inch in length, and consist of a hard, woody testa, 



