NOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 255 



1860-62. 



-jt Y] Yuh-chuh ; Ehizome of Bambusa Arundo, Nees 

 (Graminece) ; Ye cho, Arundo Bambos, Lour, (non Linn.) 



This drug consists of a rhizome of a pale yellowish-brown 

 colour and somewhat translucent, in contorted pieces of some 

 inches in length, flattened or nearly cylindrical, ^ to T ^- of an 

 inch in greatest diameter, marked with concentric rings at un- 

 equal distances, and dotted with the remains of radical fibres. 

 The pieces are moist, compressible and flexible, but break readily 

 with a short fracture. They have a sweetish, mucilaginous 

 taste, with but little odour. When macerated in water, they 

 regain their natural dimensions, becoming three times as thick 

 as in the dry state. The root and young shoots of this bamboo 

 are stated by Loureiro, in the medical language of the day, to 

 be resolvant and attenuant, to promote diaphoresis and diuresis, 

 and to purify the blood. 



A!* 7N Tsang-shuh; Ehizome of Airactylodes sp. (Com- Tsang-shuh. 

 positce) ; Pun-tsaou, Fig. 102. 



Portions of a rhizome from J to f of an inch in diameter, 

 occurring in oblong, jointed, occasionally branching pieces, of 

 li to 3 inches in length. They are invested with a rough, brown 

 cuticle, and some pieces are beset with radical fibres. The cut 

 surface exhibits a spongy whitish substance, scattered through 

 which, cells filled with resinous-looking matter of a deep orange 

 colour may be seen with a lens. 1 Tsang-shuh has a slightly 

 aromatic odour, though but little taste. It is enumerated among 

 the drugs of Kiang-nan and Hoo-kwang. According to MM. 

 Hoffmann and Schultes, 2 three species of Atractylodes, namely, 

 A. lancea D.C., A. lyrata S. et Z., and A. ovata D.C., are 

 known by the Chinese name above given. Thunberg, who de- 

 scribes two of them under the genus Atractylis, does not allude 

 to their possessing medicinal properties. 



j. ^ Pleven-sting ; Hiuen sen, Cleyer, Med. Simp., No. 44 ; 

 Pun-tsaou, Fig. 110 ; Siuan-szen, Tatarinov, Cat. Med. Sinens, 

 p. 48. 



1 This resinous-looking matter is not removed by water, alcohol, or ether. 

 3 Journal Asiatique, Oct., Nov., 1852, p. 275. 



