28 
EARLY EUROPEAN RESEARCHES 
9. Description of the tree ou tom chu, a large tree of the 
appearance of the Sycamore. It has large leaves with long 
leafstalks, the seeds of it are produced on the edges of leaves, 
different however in shape from the true leaves. (I. 268). There 
is also a good drawing of this tree. 
This is Sterculia platanifolia. Cav. a common tree in China, sin: 
»»» wu t'ung shu. Its carpel opens into green follicles indeed 
much resembling leaves, with the seeds attached to the edges of 
the follicles. 
10. Le 0. states that besides Cotton, the Chinese use to wear 
in summer clothes made from Nettles and another kind, they 
call Qo $au y ,.which is much esteemed by them. The latter is 
obtained in Fokien from a plant called Oo, a shrub-like creeper, 
which they allow to grow over the fields, often extremely long. 
It has roundish leaves larger than those of the Ivy. They are 
soft, green on the upper side but covered on the under side 
with a coating of white down. The stem attains the thickness 
of a finger. To obtain the textile fibres they soak the stems in 
water, as we do in preparing flax, and after having removed 
the outer skin, they use the fibres of the inner bark for making 
linen, which is very fine, transparent and cool. (I. 242.) 
Pueraria Thunbergiana. Benth. already noticed by Martini (v. supra 
M. 26). ~ko in Chinese. 
11. Le C. devotes also some pages to the celebrated Ginseng, 
describing the plant and the mode of its use as a medicine 
(I. 377). 
A great amount of useful information with respect to China 
is stored up in the Lettres edieiantes et curieuses icRiTES 
des Missions ETRANokRES, a collection of letters written by the 
ancient Jesuit missionaries to their superiors or friends in 
Europe, There are several editions of this collection. The 
most convenient for reference is that published in the Pantheon 
litter air e, of which the letters received from the Chinese and 
Indo-Chinese Missions constitute vol. Ill and IV. 
The following names'of Jesuit missionaries appear there in 
connection with reports on botanical matters in China. 
_ JOANNES X.AUREATX, an Italian, born 1666, 
joined the Chinese mission 1697, died 1727 at sea. 
He wrote a letter, dated Fokien, July 26, 1714, to the Baron 
of Zea, in which he gives some accounts of the vegetable 
productions of China, especially of Tea. (Panth. lit. III. 226.) 
In the same letter he notices, that the Chinese use the fibres 
of a Nettle lor making clothes and speaks also of Tobacco which 
in the beginning of the 18th cent, was largely 'cultivated in 
Fukien, (l.c. 228.) 
