254 



NOTES ON CHINESE MATEUIA MEDICA. 



1860-62. cultivated in the Shaoshing prefecture, and highly esteemed as 

 a remedy in rheumatism. It is worth $10 to $15 per picul, 

 and is mainly sent to H6-nan and Sz-chinan. It is not the put- 

 chuk of India, though said to he sometimes palmed off as such. 

 The plant, which resembles the English birth wort, is a common 

 garden creeper in Ningpo. 



It is exported from Ningpo as Green putchuk. 



Green Put 

 chuk. 



ROOTS. 



Chinese Roots. *^fj|? ;3L Yuh-kin. Tubers of a species of Curcuma (Scita- 

 minece) ; Pun-tsaou, Fig. 179 ; Tatarinov, Gated. Med. Sinens., 

 p. 32 ; Yd-Jcin, Cleyer, Med. Simp., No. 65. 



Oblong or ovate tubers (Fig. 11) tapering at either end, from 

 | to l inch in length, covered externally with a thin, ad- 

 herent, brownish-grey cuticle, usually 

 (but not invariably) smooth. When 

 broken, they exhibit a shining frac- 

 ture, and are seen to consist of a hard 

 semi-transparent, horny, orange-yel- 

 low substance, easily separable into 

 two portions, an inner and an outer. 

 The tubers have an aromatic odour, 

 . and a slight taste resembling turmeric, 

 and contain an abundance of starch. 

 Many scitamineous plants produce 

 at the extremities of the roots spring- 

 ing from the rhizome, starchy tubers such as those above de- 

 scribed. Dr. Roxburgh calls them pendulous tubers, from their 

 descending into the ground beneath the rhizome. 1 They are 

 usually less aromatic, and more amylaceous, than the rhizome : 

 from those of some species of Curcuma, the so-called East Indian 

 arrowroot is manufactured. 



The plant producing Yuh-kin is undetermined ; it is a native 

 of the south of China, and is most probably a species of Curcuma. 



Fio. 11. 



See figures given by Rumphins, Ksempfer, Roscoe, and others. 



