214 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



In Manchuria the mistletoe is called ^ ^, but here again its 

 general sense of "evergreen" is meant. The wood of this 

 Ilex is white, beautifully veined, and was formerly used for 

 making the ivory-like tablets which officials held before their 

 breasts at Imperial audiences. It bears small white flowers, 

 and red berries of the size of a pea. The leaves will dye a 

 dark red color. The young shoots are sometimes used for food. 

 The seeds, bark, and leaves are used in medicine. The two 

 former, digested in wine, are used as carminative and tonic 

 remedies. The ashes of the latter are used in skin diseases and 

 poisoned wounds. A spirit prepared from the seeds is highly 

 recommended to be taken in hemorrhoids. 



ILLICIUM ANISATUM.— A ^ B ^ (Pa-chio-hui- 

 hsiang), 928. Star afiise is confounded with ^ ^ (Huai- 

 hsiaug) in the Pentsao. This latter is an umbelliferous plant, 

 most probably Pijnpinella miisiwi^ with which the description 

 in the Pentsao agrees. The plant which produces the star- 

 anise does not seem to have been very well known to Chinese 

 botanists, and their identification of this drug seems to have 

 depended largely upon the characteristic odor. It is brought 

 in sea-going junks principally to Canton, and for this reason is 

 called Ifl "@ ^ (Po-hui-hsiang). It is presumed that it comes 

 from the East Indies or Japan, although it is said to grow in 

 Kuangsi. All that is said about the plant is that it is different 

 from the native "gf ^ (Hui-hsiang) in every respect except the 

 odor. In the Appendix to the Pentsao^ where it is called Tfc 

 /\ % (Mu-pa-chio), a tolerable description of the shrub is 

 given. It is likened to Hibiscus vmiabilis in appearance. 

 The seeds are recommended in constipation, and as a diuretic, 

 in lumbago, hernia, extrophy of the bladder, and the like. 

 There is a [^ A % (Ts'ao-pa-chio) which seems to be a 

 smaller variety of the shrub. It certainly is not an umbellifer. 

 The star-anise fruits, as they appear in commerce, present 

 the radiate, star-like arrangement of the eight folicles, from 

 which appearance they receive their name. Each of the 

 folicles is compressed laterally, boat-shaped, roughened, and 

 opens more or less at the top, disclosing a shining, yellow, 

 ovate, solitary seed in the smooth cavity. The fruits vary 



