292 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



ORITHIA EDULIS.— ilj M ^ (Shan-tzu-ku), ^ »1 

 (Chin-teng). This plant grows iu moist places in mountain 

 valleys, and resembles Sagittaria. It is valued for its flowers, 

 of which there are white, red, and yellow varieties. The 

 small, shrunken, horny, irregularly ovate bulbs of the plant, 

 with a mass of fibrous, tangled rootlets attached to each bulb, 

 are sometimes called ^ ^ (Mao-k'o). The hairy rootlets are 

 detached from the bulb before the latter is used in medicine. 

 Slightly deleterious properties are attributed to the drug, and 

 it is used by military doctors in the treatment of strumous 

 diseases, specific diseases of the blood, carbuncles, injuries, 

 hydrophobia, and any disease requiring the exhibition of 

 alteratives. It enters into the composition of a famous nos- 

 trum prepared by the Chinese, called the "Universal Counter- 

 poison" (M ^ ^ # ^» Wan-ping-chieh-tu-wan). The leaves 

 are used externally as an application to buboes, abscesses, and 

 diseases of the breast. The flowers are said to be eflficacious 

 in urinary disorders. This is the same as Tulipa graminifolia. 



ORIXA JAPONICA.— ^ llj (Ch'ang-shan), 30. Also 

 called ^ ^ (Shu-ch'i), " Szechuan varnish," If il] (Hen- 

 shan), and g '^ (Hu-ts'ao). The Pentsao classifies this plant 

 among the poisonous drugs (^ ^ |^, Tu-ts'ao-lei), and says 

 that it comes from the provinces of Szechuan and Yunnan, and 

 especially from Chentehfu in the former province, where it 

 grows in the mountain ravines. It is also found in the forests 

 of -the Yangtse hills. It is described as having a round, 

 pointed stalk, and being not over three or four feet high, with 

 opposite leaves shaped like the tea-leaf. In the second month 

 appears a white flower with green carpels, and in the fifth 

 month a fruit, green and round, and with three seeds in each 

 receptacle. The dried leaves have a greenish-white color 

 when they are fit for use, but if they turn black they are 

 spoiled. The leaves are collected in the fifth or sixth month. 

 One author says that the Szechuan varnish is the stalk of the 

 plant, and that it is gathered in the eighth or ninth month. 

 This plant is also said to be brought from "Hainan," which 

 probably means Cochin-China and other places in the south. 

 The only places from which it is reported as coming in 



