400 CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



afterwards drying in the shade. In this way they in a large 

 measure lose their poisonous properties. Anodyne, construct- 

 ive, tonic, diuretic, and tussic properties are attributed to the 

 drug, and it is prescribed in dysentery, coughs, mania, epilepsy, 

 dropsy, toothache, cancer of the breast, and prolapse of the 

 recinin. The root is used in pernicious malaria, and in parasitic 

 skin diseases. 



SCROPHULARIA OLDHAML— ^ # (Hsuan-sheu), 

 1563. The first character is also frequently written jf^ (Yiian). 

 The plant is also called M ^ (Hei-shen) and ^ /J^ jg (Yeh- 

 chih-ma). It has opposite leaves, which are long and seriated. 

 It grows four and five feet high, has a slender stem of purplish- 

 green color. It bears greenish, purple, or white flowers, and 

 black fruits. The stem, which is square, and the leaves are 

 covered with hairs. The roots, which represent the drug 

 proper, are about three or four inches long, and nearly an inch 

 in diameter in the middle, tapering off to either end. They 

 are brown externally, and very irregularly furrowed and wrink- 

 led. They are fleshy and dark internally, and moist in fresh 

 samples. Some of the roots are branched and jointed. Al- 

 though this is said to be used by inpense-iyakers, it has very 

 little smell, and the taste is raw and sweetish. It is very 

 liable to be attacked by worms. It is regarded as cooling, 

 diuretic, tonic, and restorative, and is prescribed in fevers, 

 malaria, typhoid, scrophulous glands, galactorrhoea, and leu- 

 corrhoea. 



SCUTELLARIA MACRANTHA.— ^ '^ (Huang-ch'in), 

 513. This name seems also to be applied to Scutellaria visci- 

 dnla. This Chinese skullcap is a common plant in nearly 

 every part of China, in ^Mongolia, and well into Siberia. It 

 grows about a foot high, has small, lanceolate leaves, and 

 bears blue flowers. Other species, which are also used, bear 

 yellow, or purple, flowers. The root, which is usually cut 

 into slices, is light, spongy, yellow in color, slightly bitter, 

 and mucilaginous. When it is fresh and solid, it is called 

 •^ ^ (Tzu-ch'in), and when old, broken, and full of holes, 

 it is called ^ ^ (Su-ch'in). This old root, from being 



