I am constrained to refer once more to the beautiful wild flower known to science as Houttuynia cordate, discussed in "A Country Diary" of May 21, which appeared in this paper on May 23, for it is now blooming in my garden. By a strange coincidence the author of "A Country Diary" visited my garden on the very morning that he gathered the blossom of this interesting plant. I proudly showed him a white bud nestling amongst the ferns where my plants grow. whereupon he turned back the lapel of his coat and showed me in his button-hole the fully open bloom that he had secured in the country that morning.
The first flower opened in my garden on May 25. On the same day Mr. W. J. Kerr, Super-tendent of Parks here in Shanghai, came to see my stonecrops, and I showed him my Houftuynia blossom. He informed me that Re has a whole bed of this plant, now in full bloom, in the Kiaochow Road Perk. He also remarked upon the high medicinal value of this genus of plants, for which it is famous. This, of course. only adds to the interest of the Houituymia, which grows so freely in the country round Shanghai, but appears to be so tittie known to the general public. To the Chinese who have long been aware of its medicinal properties, it is known as Ch'i, fto the Japanese as Do-kou-domi. It contains an essential oil in fis heart-shaped leaves called methyl-n-monyi-Ketone. The leaves of the plant are used by the Chinese as a cure for all kinds of skin diseases. i This brings us to the subject of the medicinal properties of plants generally, which is far too Big to discuss here, except to note that the inese know a great deal more about the value of herbs in this respect than they are
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.