246 NOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



1860-62. bivalvis, valvis planiusculis, niedio septiferis. Semina in loculis 

 pauca, pendula, compressa; testa membranacea hinc in alam 

 angustam, inde in marginem angustissimam expansa. Embryo 

 in axi albuminis carnosi, parci rectus ; cotyledonibus foliaceis, 

 radical a brevi, cylindrica, supera. 1 

 sterculia ^^ jjtt ^ Woo-tunff-tsze ; Seeds of Sterculia platanifolia, 



Lin. fil. (Sterculiacoe)? 



Spherical, about the size of peas, externally covered with a 

 shrivelled, shining, pale-brown skin. 



Dapknidium. Ip ^g 3/R Pelh-ching-Jcea ; Berries of Daphnidium Cubcba, 

 Cubcba. ^- a ^ j, (Laurinece) ; Laurus Cubeba, Lour.; Cdy Mang tang 

 (Cochinchinese). 



The Chinese name Pcih-ching-kea, under which I have received 

 these berries, appears to be also applied to cubebs ; and in fact, 

 if one may judge from the wood- cut in the Pun-tsaou (Fig. 690), 

 it is to the latter drug that it properly belongs. Whether the 

 Chinese confound the two and use them indiscriminately, or 

 whether they consider one as a mere variety of the other, I am 

 unable to say. The friend who obtained one specimen in my 

 possession, presented it to me marked " Cubebs" and I believe he 

 is not the only person who has fallen into such an error. M. 

 Kondot, in his Commerce d' Exportation de la Chine (Paris, 1848), 

 enumerates cubebs as a production not only of Java, but of 

 China likewise ; he also mentions that the Chinese cubebs are 

 exported exclusively to India, whence we may conclude that 

 they are not suitable for European markets. Are not these 

 Chinese cubebs the drug under notice ? 



The drug which I have received consists of small berries, 

 which, in size, form, and general appearance, much resemble 

 peppercorns or cubebs ; examined attentively, however, they are 

 seen to be one-seeded globular berries (Fig. 10) attached to 

 a pedicel sometimes half an inch long; at the base of each 

 berry traces of the perianth are visible. The pericarp is thin, 

 fleshy, and in the dried state, corrugated. The seed is globular, 



1 Gen. Plant., p. 573. 



a Well figured in Baillon's Hist, des Plantes, Malvacees, 1872, p. 60. 



