VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 399 



japonica. It is said to have a shoot like Imperata^ and can 

 be made into matting and ropes. The seeds can be eaten as 

 a substitute for rice. 



SCIRPUSTUBEROSUS.— ,^ ^ (Wu-yli), ^ ^ (Pi- 

 ch'i), ^^ ^ (1^i-li), K V^ (Fu-tzn). The second name is usual- 

 ly wrongly written ^ \^, and is properly pronounced P^o-chi. 

 The tubers are like taro and black ; ducks like to eat them, 

 hence the first and fourtli names. This last is the proper name, 

 according to the books, while the second is the common name. 

 The plant is the same as EleocJiai'is tiiberosiLs. The tuber is 

 eaten both raw and cooked, and is liable to produce flatulence. 

 It is largely cultivated and sold as a food all over China. In 

 some parts of the country, especially in the Yangtse valley, the 

 plant grows wild, and is therefore not specially cultivated. 

 The tubers are sweet, juicy, and somewhat resemble the chestnut 

 in appearance rather than in flavor, and are therefore called by 

 the foreigners "water-chestnuts," although the Chinese call 

 them "ground-chestnuts" (j^ Jjl). They are considered to be 

 cooling and beneficial to the breath, and are used in fluxes 

 and poisons. A starchy preparation is made from them, known 

 as ^ ^ ^ (Pi-chi-fen), which is considered very nourishing 

 and beneficial to the digestive organs, and is given to children 

 when they .swallow cash or other metallic substances. In the 

 Customs Lists it is called J^ \% |^ (Ma-ti-fen), 8ii, but upon 

 what authority does not appear. 



SCOPOLIA JAPONICA.—]^ ^ (Lang-tang). The 

 plant described under this name in the Pentsao does not seem 

 to be Hyoscyanuis Jiiger^ although Henry found a plant called 

 by this name in a mountain garden in Hupeh, which proved 

 to be Hyoscy amies, and Bretschneider says that at least two 

 species of Hyoscyamus are found in North China. He does not 

 give any Chinese name for these. The plant described is hir- 

 sute, has leaves resembling those of ReJmiannia, white or 

 purple flowers, urn-shaped calyx, persistent and enclosing the 

 seed capsule, which contains greenish-white seeds. These seeds, 

 when eaten, produce madness. For use in medicine, the seeds 

 are prepared by digesting in vinegar and then in milk, and 



