VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 415 



in medicine. The best comes from Juuingfii in Honan. It is 

 one of the five ^ (Shen) enumerated by T'ao Hung-ching. In 

 the list of Ivi Shih-chen, however, ^ ^ (Tzu-shen) takes its 

 place. The drug is given in fevers, jaundice, dysentery, 

 leprosy, scrofula and many other important maladies. As a 

 bitter tonic and stomachic, it probably is of more value than 

 the true ginseng, for which it is named. Anthelmintic pro- 

 perties are also ascribed to it, as are also those of an astringent. 

 The fruits, called "t^ # ^ (K'u-shen-shih) or ^ # ^ (K'u- 

 shen-tzu), 636, have properties identical with those of the root, 

 and are considered restorative and tonic. 



SOPHORA JAPONICA.— 1^ (Huai). This leguminous 

 tree is very common in China, growing in all latitudes from 

 Kuangtung to INIanchuria, and is a frequent ornament of the 

 streets, courtyards, and parks of Peking and other cities. 

 The leaves are elliptico-lanceolate, and greyish on the under 

 surface. The legumes are wrinkled, fleshy, and moniliform, 

 often containing only one seed, or the pod is lengthened so as 

 to have from five to seven seeds, and by a constriction of 

 the pod at various places, these are grouped into twos or 

 threes. The pods containing one or five seeds are rejected by 

 the Chinese, and those containing groups of two or three are 

 employed in medicine. The pods are used in peparing a 

 yellow dye. In order to prepare them for medicinal use, they 

 are first broken up with a brass pestle, and then soaked over 

 night in the milk of a black cow, and steamed and dried. 

 These legumes are considered to be tonic, to preserve the 

 freshness of youth, and to be astringent and styptic in wounds 

 and hemorrhoids. Difficult labor, abortion, venereal sores, 

 profuse salivation, and milk fever are treated with them. They 

 are called |^ ^ (Huai-shiii), 504, and }% "^ (Huai-chio), 501. 

 The flowers, which are usually gathered in the immature state, 

 and are called :^ ^ (Huai-hua), ;^ ^ (Huai-mi), and }% ^ 

 (Huai-tzu), 502, are greenish-yellow, and are used in dyeing 

 cloth a yellow color, or for changing the color of blue clotli to 

 green. They are astringent, anthelmintic, and cooling, and 

 are employed in loss of voice, hemoptysis, epistaxis, and 

 menorrhagia. The leaves seem to resemble senna-leaves in 



