3l8 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



and is explained by •^ "strong, fine-looking," This plant, next 

 to the bamboo, is one of the most nsefnl plants in China. 

 Indeed, north of the Yangtse it in a large measure takes the 

 place occupied by the bamboo in the southern provinces. The 

 shoots are eaten like bamboo shoots ; the stalks are used for 

 building the hovels of the poor, for wattled fences, for mats, 

 screens, and blinds, and as the principal kitchen fuel of the 

 Yangtse, under which circumstances it is known as ^ ^ (Xn- 

 ch'ai); the large, long leaves are used as wrappings for the 

 glutinous rice dumplings so largely consumed at the Fifth 

 Moon Feast, and the broken leaves and autumnal sweepings 

 are used for bedding ; and lastly, these leaves and tops, when 

 boiled in water and the water afterwards evaporated, yield a 

 dark, glutinous, sweet substance, used as a substitute for sugar. 

 The whole plant is used as fodder for cattle, and the stalk, 

 roots, leaves, tops, old house and fence wattles, broken screens 

 and blinds, and the rakings of the reed fields and cattle yards, 

 are all added to the pile of kitchen fuel. The portion of the 

 root growing in the mud is also in times of scarcity used as 

 food ; that above the ground being bitter and unpalatable. The 

 plant grows in river valleys at flood water, and in marshes. It 

 is almost the only thing one sees sailing up the lower Yangtse 

 in August. Medicinally, the root, 768, is regarded as cooling 

 and diuretic. It is administered in nausea and vomiting, 

 "internal" fevers including typhoid fever, hiccough, and 

 fluxes. The shoot is slightly bitter, and is considered cooling 

 and counter poison, and is highly recommended for choleraic 

 difficulties and various kinds of flesh and medicinal poisons. 

 The stalks and leaves are used in cholera and fetid bronchitis, 

 and the ash is applied to foul sores, unhealthy granulations, 

 and the like. The use of the plant which grows in the waters 

 of the Yangtse by married couples is supposed to conduce to 

 harmony in their sexual relations. The flowers are made into 

 a strong decoction in water, and administered as a very effica- 

 cious remedy in cholera, fish and shrimp poisoning, and the 

 ashes are used for checking hemorrhage. 



PHYLLANTHUS URINARIA.—^ 3^ i^ (Chen-chu- 

 ts'ao), 37. See LyswiacJiia eleutheroides^ also Spoiidias amara. 



