160  ON  PENGHAWAR  DJAMBI,  A  NEW  STYPTIC. 
ported  are  in  straight  pieces,  about  a  foot  in  length  and  an  inch 
in  width.  They  have  mostly  been  split  open  lengthwise,  per- 
haps to  facilitate  their  drying.  Their  most  striking  feature, 
however,  is  the  abundant  clothing  of  long,  sparkling,  golden- 
brown,  moniliform  hairs,  with  which  the  outer  part  of  the  stipes 
is  thickly  covered,  and  which  at  the  first  glance  suggests  for  the 
drug  an  animal  rather  than  a  vegetable  origin. 
Pengliawar  Djambi,  though  new  to  the  English  drug  market, 
has  for  some  years  past  been  in  the  hands  of  the  pharmaceutists 
of  Holland  and  Germany,  and  now  has  even  a  place  in  the  Dutch 
pharmacopoeia.* 
The  plant  which  affords  it,  is  without  doubt,  of  the  genus 
Cibotium.  Dr.  Oudemans,  in  his  Commentaries  on  the  Pharma- 
copoeia Neerlandica^  refers  it  to  Q.  Cumingii  Kunze,  a  fern  of 
the  Philippine  Islands,  regarded  by  one  of  our  best  filicologists 
as  not  specifically  distinct  from  the  C.  Barometz  of  J.  Smith. 
On  this  point  Mr.  John  Smith  has  been  kind  enough  to  reply  to 
some  inquiries  I  recently  addressed  to  him,  in  a  communication 
from  which  I  extract  the  following : — 
"I  may  safely  say  that  that  the  hairy  stipes  called  Pengliawar  Jam- 
hie  are  produced  by  a  species  of  Cibotium.  Of  this  genus,  six  species 
are  described  in  Sir  W.  Hooker's  /Species  Filicum^  viz  :  C.  glaucescens 
Kze.  {Polypodium  Barometz  L.,  Cibotium  Barometz  J.  Sin.)  and  C. 
Assamicum  Hook.,  from  the  Eastern  hemisphere;  C.  Sheidei  Schlecht. 
et  Cham,  from  Mexico ;  and  C.  glaucum  {Dicltsonia  glauca  Smith,  in 
Rees's  Cyclop.),  C.  Chamdissoi  Kaulf.  and  C.  Menziesii  Hook.,  from 
the  Sandwich  Islands.  All  are  characterized  by  having  the  rhizome  or 
caudex  and  the  base  of  the  stipes  densely  covered  with  soft  moniliform 
hairs.  In  the  Eastern  species,  the  rhizome  is  decumbent,  and  upon 
removal  from  the  ground,  might  easily  be  formed  by  a  little  artful 
manipulation,  into  the  fabulous  Vegetable  Lamb  or  Barometz.  The 
plant  which  affords  this  production,  was  referred  by  Linnaeus  from 
Loureiro's  description,  to  the  genus  Polypodium,  and  called  P.  Baro- 
metz. Nothing  further  was  known  of  it  till  about  thirty  years  ago, 
when  the  late  John  Reeves,  Esq.,  sent  a  living  plant  from  China  to 
to  the  nursery  of  Messrs.  Loddiges  at  Hackney,  as  the  true  Barometz. 
This  plant  increased  and  in  time  became  an  inhabitant  of  other  gar- 
*  Pharmacopoeia  Neerlandica,  1851,  p.  53. 
-j-  Aanteekeningen  ophet  Botanische,  Zoologische  en  Pharmacognostische 
Gedeelte  der  Pharmacopoeia  Neerlandica.  Door  C.  A.  J.  A.  Oudemans, 
M.  D.    Rotterdam,  1854,  1.  Afl.  p.  17. 
|  Page  82. 
