256 NOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



iseo 62. Fleshy roots of about four inches in length and one inch in 

 diameter at the middle, whence they taper to either extremity. 

 They are longitudinally wrinkled and furrowed, and covered with 

 an adherent brown cuticle ; internally they are fleshy and black ; 

 they have a sweetish taste and but little odour. 



Corydalis jE ifjft ^ Yen-lwo-stih ; Tubers of Corydalis ambigua, 

 Chamisso et Schlechtendal in Linncea, t. i. (1816), p. 558 

 (Fumarice) ; Pun-tsaou, Fig. 133. 



Little, hard, brown tubers, of somewhat flattened spherical 

 form, averaging half an inch in diameter. Externally, they are 

 covered with a thin wrinkled cuticle ; when broken, they exhibit 

 a bright yellow, semi-transparent, waxy appearance. 



Corydalis ambigua Cham, et SchL, from which, according to 

 Messrs. Hoffmann and Schultes, 1 this drug is derived, is a plant 

 of Siberia and Kamtschatka, throwing up its flowers upon the 

 melting of the snow in early spring ; it is also found in the 

 Amoor country. I am indebted to Dr. E. Eegel, of St. Peters- 

 burg, for an authentic specimen of the tuber of this plant, com- 

 parison of which with the Chinese drug is confirmatory of their 

 identity. 



^ il *T Mth-mun-tung ; Tubers of Ophiopogon Japoni- 



Convallaria cus y Ker (Smilacece) ; Convallaria Japonica, L. ; Hondo, Ksempf., 



Japonic*. ^ m 5tt., p. 823, with Fig. ; Pun-tsaou, Fig. 268 ; Ml mden turn, 



Cleyer, Med. Simp., No. 14. 



This drug consists of cylindri- 

 cal fleshy tubers, from 1 to 2 

 inches in length, and from to 

 J of an inch in diameter, taper- 

 ing at either extremity (Fig. 12). 

 They are of a pale yellowish 

 FlG 12 grey colour and translucent; 



somewhat shrivelled through 



drying, soft, flexible, yet easily broken. A central ligneous cord, 

 resembling a stiff thread, runs longitudinally through each. 



1 Op. tit., p. 286. 



