266 CIIINKSK MATKRIA :MF,I)ICA. 



peculiar shape indicated by the name. In the south the youno- 

 pepo and the leaves are said to be eaten as a vegetable. The 

 seed is of a light to dark brown color, having a double row of 

 tubercles at the margin, and the testa fragile, roughened and 

 sometimes coarsely reticulated. They vary from three-quarters 

 to one and a-quarter inches in diameter, and contain two large, 

 oily cotyledons, green on the outside and yellow internally. 

 These cotyledons are used in medicine, but the oil for the most 

 part is first removed. Their action is considered to "be con- 

 structive and resolvent, and they are prescribed in strumous 

 swellings of the neck, mammary abscess, mesenteric enlarge- 

 ments, bruises, wounds, swellings, and ulcers. They are 

 recommended in chronic malaria, enlarged spleen, and fluxes. 



MONOCHORIA HASTATA.— ^ ^fi (Tz'u-ku), 1426. 

 This is also called 7JC v'ji (Shni-p'ing), thus confounding it with 

 Lemiia and other species of Monochoria. The shoots are called 

 55[ JJ "^ (Chien-tao-ts'ao), The principal name is also written 

 i^t: ^ (Tz'u-ku), and this is not distinguished from Sagittaria 

 sagittifolia^ being the latter in the north, and Mo?iochoria in 

 the south. (See Sagittaria sagitti/olia.) 



MONOCHORIA KORSAKOWIL— ^|i (P'ing). This has 

 the same Chinese name as the Lcmna viinor^ and is therefore 

 not distinguished from the latter. (See Lcvina minor.) 



MONOCHORIA VAGINALIS.— ^^ ^ (Fou-shih), il!| fj- 

 ;^ (Ya-she-ts'ao), 1483. This "floating polygonum", or 

 "duck's tongue", is likened to Braseiiia pcltata. Like all 

 water plants, it is considered to be cooling. 



MORUS ALBA. — ^ (Sang). The mulberry tree is prob- 

 ably the best known tree of China. Its cultivation can be 

 traced to remote antiquity. According to ancient tradition, 

 Si-ling, the empress of Huangti (B.C. 2967), taught the people 

 how to rear silk worms, using the mulberry leaves for that 

 purpose. The tree is cultivated in all parts of the empire, 

 being found in several varieties. Cultivation and the constant 

 denuding the tree of its leaves has resulted in greatly modifying 



