242 



NOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



186062. 



Gardenia 

 flwida. 



Gardenia 

 radicans. 



Gardenia 

 grandiflora. 



FIG. 8. 



on the inner surface of the pericarp with two narrow wing-like 

 receptacles opposite each other. The seeds are nidulant in an 

 orange pulp. 



The precise species of Gardenia affording each of these fruits 

 is not yet clearly made out. There appear to be at least three 

 plants whose fruits are used on account 

 of their colouring properties. These are : 

 1. Gardenia florida, L., a large, very 

 ramous shrub, native of Japan, China, 

 India, &c. Major Champion found it in 

 abundance in several localities in Hong 

 Kong. 1 Mr. Fortune has informed me 

 that it is common in the hilly districts at some distance from 

 Shanghai, and that its fruit is collected for dyeing purposes, 

 but not produced so abundantly as that of G. radicans. 



2. Gardenia radicans, Thunb., a much smaller plant than 

 G. florida, with a decumbent rooting stem. It is a native of 

 Japan, China, India, &c. Mr. Fortune has given me its Chinese 

 name as Whang-tsze, and stated that its fruit is commonly col- 

 lected in the north of China for its colouring properties. 



3. Gardenia grandiflora, Lour., a native of Cochin-China. 

 Loureiro mentions that its fruits impart a beautiful colour to 

 silk, and that they are also used medicinally in decoction, in 

 fevers, and in a variety of other complaints. 2 



The fruits of these Chinese Gardenias (which are so similar in 

 properties that the analysis of one will probably serve for the 

 other two) have been examined by several chemists, among 

 whom, as the most recent, may be mentioned Mr. Lorenz Mayer, 

 of the laboratory of Professor Eochleder, of Prague. According 

 to the investigations of this gentleman, 3 the splendid yellow 

 colour of the Gardenia is due to a body named crocine, which 

 appears to be identical with the polychroite of saffron. Crocine 

 is uncrystallizable ; when in powder it is of a bright red colour ; 



1 Hooker's Journ. of Bot., vol. iv. (1852), p. 193. 



2 Flor. Cochinch., p. 183. 



3 On the Yellow Colouring Matter of the Fruit of Gardenia grandiflora, 

 by F. Rochleder. Chemical Gazette, Sept. 1, 1858, p. 331. Pharm. Journ. 

 and Trans., vol. xviii. (1859), p. 626. 



