VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 293 



the Customs lists of 1885 are Canton and Hankow, and the 

 following record is found : ''Several plants supply drugs of 

 this name, which are used as febrifuges, as Dichroa febrifuga^ 

 Lour, Hydrangea sp., and an unknown herbaceous plant." 

 By referring to Loureiro's list, we find a plant, the name of 

 which Romanized according to the Cantonese dialect is chant 

 chan (the Chinese characters are lacking), but which presum- 

 ably is this same plant, and is called by him Dichroa 

 febrifuga. As Loureiro's work was wholly done in Cochin- 

 China, the plant he thus identifies is presumably indigenous to 

 that country. Whether it is the same as the Szechuan plant 

 described by the Pentsao remains to be determined. Tatarinov 

 makes Ch'^ang-shan to h^ Lysiniachia^ and i ^ llj (T'u-ch'ang- 

 shan) is also a Hydrangea. In addition to the leaves and 

 stalk, the shoot and roots are used in medicine. The drug is 

 steeped in a decoction of licorice root to correct its nauseant 

 properties. The tincture, or the dessicated drug, is not 

 strongly emetic, but if prepared with vinegar its emetic proper- 

 ties are increased. All forms of the drug are used in fevers, 

 specially those of malarial origin. There is no form of this 

 latter disease for which it is not recommended. The leaves 

 are used in goitre. 



OROBANCHE AMMOPHYLA. — |^ |g ^ (Jou-tsung- 

 jung), 1359. Tsung-jiing is a name of several orobancaceous 

 plants. Another variety, or possibly species, of the one under 

 consideration, is called ^ ^ ^ (Ts'ao-tsung-jung) or ^ij ^ 

 (Lieh-tang). The ancients thought that this plant sprang up 

 from the semen dropped on the ground by wild stallions, 

 somewhat similar to the supposed origin ,of Balenopheray 

 another orobancaceous plant. The growing plant is scaly, has 

 a scaly root, and both the root and stalk have the appearance 

 of flesh, from which fact it receives its name. Both the plant 

 and root are eaten either raw or cooked with meat. The root 

 is salted, or dried in the sun, for use as medicine. It is first 

 cleaned, soaked in wine, and the central fibres rejected. 

 These latter are considered to be deleterious. Its virtues seem 

 to be tonic in all of the wasting diseases and injuries, as well 

 as aphrodisiac, promoting fertility in women and curing 



