Abstract
In preceding papers, about 600 Chinese crude drugs collected in Singapore were described and discussed on the basis of their origins with reference to "Yào-Cai-Xué, " (1961) and "The Gardens' Bulletin, Vol. 6" (1930).
The present series of papers deals with Chinese crude drugs collected at Joon Ning Pharmacy, Kuching, Sarawak, East Malaysia, in 1971. Altogether 424 crude drugs were obtained, the greater part of which were of vegetable origin, the remainder being either of animal or of mineral origin. The vegetable drugs may be divided into 10 groups on the basis of their shape or their origin in the plant, e.g., bark, root, flower, etc.
About half of the drugs, 203, are described in this paper. The parts of the plants are : wood and stem (42 out of 203), bark and root bark (16), rhizome (45), root (90), and leaf (10). These are sold in certain shapes and sizes (A to F below) in accordance with either their origin in the plant or the plant species; (A) stems and roots measuring >1cm in diameter-obliquely cut into pieces of 1-3mm thickness, (B) bigger trunks and branched roots-chips of 3-5mm maximum length, (C) small stems and herbs-cut into pieces of 3-7cm length, (D) bark-lengthwise strips of 3-5mm width are cut into pieces of 1-3mm length, (E) stems and roots of some plant species-cut into round slices of 1mm thickness, (F) drugs of small original size-without cutting.
Further analyses of the Chinese crude drugs of Kuching in comparison with those of Singapore will be attempted in the papers to follow.
