NOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



237 



tSL U Hwae-shXh ; Legumes of Sophora Japonica, L. (Legu- 

 minosce). 



Sophora japonica is a tree of very common occurrence in 

 China and Japan, and not unfrequent in the gardens of Europe. 

 Its flowers, called Hwae-hwa, are largely used in China for 

 dyeing yellow, or rather for rendering blue cotton green, 1 and 

 the legumes are said by Endlicher to have a similar application. 2 



These latter, in the dried state, are from 1 to 4 inches long 

 by T %- to T 4 ^ of an inch wide, wrinkled, fleshy, semi-transparent, 

 more or less contracted between the seeds, which usually do 

 not number more than six in each legume. 



Tsaou-ke8 ; Legumes of Gleditschia Sinensis, 



Lam. 

 Med. 



(Leguminosce), Mimosa fera, Lour. ; Tatarinov, Catal. 

 Sin., p. 57. 



The valves of the broad, flat pods are regarded, according to 

 Loureiro, as attenuant, stimulant, and purgative. They are 

 also lauded for their effects in the removal of phlegm and other 

 viscid humours, and in the form of a sternutatory or suppository 

 are said to be peculiarly efficacious in apoplexy, hemiplegia, 

 and paralysis. 



?fftr fr'^* nti 



TftJ H /fe Poo-Jcwiik-che ; Legumes of Psoralea corylifolia, 



L. (Leguminosce) ; Pun-tsaou, Fig. 177. 



These are flat, oval or reniform, black, one-seeded legumes, 

 which being very small and indehiscent may readily be mis- 

 taken for seeds ; they are about two lines long, and are 

 sometimes surrounded by the calyx, which is 5-lobed and 

 marked with prominent nerves and minute glands. The fruits 

 of this Psoralea have an aromatic flavour, and are used in India 

 (of which country the plant is a native) as a stomachic, as well 

 as in certain inveterate cutaneous diseases. 3 



1860-62. 



Sophora 

 japonica. 



Chinese 

 Legumes. 



Psoralea 

 corylifolia. 



they become wetted with rain, such a mass of glutinous jelly is formed as to 

 render the passage of the road on foot or horseback a matter of difficulty. 



1 Martius on Wai-fa, the flower-buds of Sophora Japonica, Pharm. 

 Journ., Aug., 1854, p. 64. 



2 Enchiridion Botanicum, p. 677. 



3 Ainslie, Mat. Indica., vol. ii., p. 141. 



