Fargesia rufa T.P.Yi Poaceae. Farges bamboo. Distribution: China. Named, in 1985, after Paul Guillaume Farges (1844-1912), a French missionary and plant collector, who went in 1867 with the Missions Étrangères to north-east Szechuan. He botanised extensively and amassed 4,000 herbarium specimens which he sent back o France. He discovered and sent back seeds of the handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, one of which germinated after 18 months. Eighty plants have been named after him. (Cox, 1945

Osmanthus delavayi Franch. Oleaceae Evergreen shrub. Distribution: China. Osmanthus is derived from the Greek for 'fragrant flower', delavayi from its discoverer, the French Missionary with the Missions Étrangères, and plant collector, Pierre Delavay (1834-1895). He sent 200,000 herbarium specimens containing 4000 species including 1,500 new species to Franchet at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He sent seed of O. delavayi to France (1886), but only one germinated, and all the plants in cultivation until it was recollected 40 years later, arose from this plant (Bretschneider, 1896). The flowers are used to make a tea in China, but the berries (drupes) are not regarded as edible. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.

Two missionaries gouging out the eyes of a Chinese convert. Line photoengraving, 1915.

Aconitum carmichaelii Debeaux. Ranunculaceae. Chinese aconite, Chinese wolfsbane, Carmichael's monkshood. Herbaceous perennial. Distribution C. to W. China to N. America. Named for Dr J.R. Carmichael (d. 1877), English physician, plant collector and Protestant missionary from 1862-1877 in Guangdong and Shandong, China initially in Canton. He aided Francis Forbes to collect plants for Kew. Aconitum plants are so poisonous that Theophrastus states that death was the punishment for possessing them. Aconitine is the poison and was used - from Aconitum ferox - in the 'curry murder' in London in 2009. It causes respiratory paralysis, bradycardia (slowing of the pulse), cardiac arrhythmias, tingling, sweating, gastric cramps, diarrhoea and death, both by ingestion and by absorption through the mucous membranes and the skin. Despite this it is widely used in Chinese herbal medicine. It is a restricted herbal medicine which can only be dispensed by a herbal practitioner for external use following a one-to-one consultation, or by prescription from a registered doctor or dentist (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.

Four missionaries and a child are looking at an African tribe from a distance. Drawing by H.G., 18--.

A cannibal market trader is offering the limbs of missionaries for sale as food. Drawing attributed to Edwin Harcourt Burrage, 18--.

Three vignettes: a group of people with leprosy, two missionaries and a leper asylum. Reproduction of a wood engraving by R.B.

Mercy and truth : a record of C.M.S. medical mission work.

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