308 Sino-Iranica 



Ming, 1 which states that "now it occurs everywhere." Li Si-cen says 

 that it is cultivated in southern China and to a larger extent in Se- 

 6'wan. Wan Si-mou HE tfr $8i, who died in 1591, in his Hio pu tsa $u 

 ^ IS ft $M, a work on horticulture in one chapter, 2 mentions an espe- 

 cially large and excellent variety of this bean from Yun-nan. This is 

 also referred to in the old edition of the Gazetteer of Yun-nan Province 

 (Kiu Yun-nan Vun U) and in the Gazetteer of the Prefecture of Mun- 

 hwa in Yun-nan, where the synonyme nan tou l$J s£ ("southern bean") 

 is added, as the flower turns its face toward the south. The New-Persian 

 name of the plant is bagela. 3 



1 Ci wu min H t'u k'ao, Ch. 2, p. 142. Bretschneider (Bot. Sin., pt. 1, p. 52) 

 has recognized Vicia faba among the illustrations of this work. 



1 Cf. the Imperial Catalogue, Ch. 116, p. 37 b. 



3 Schlimmer, Terminologie, p. 562. Arabic b&qil&. Finally, the Fan yi min yi tsi 

 (section 27) offers a Sanskrit term %fl $jl wu-kia, *mwut-g'a, translated by hu tou 

 and explained as "a green bean." The corresponding Sanskrit word is tnudga 

 (Phaseolus tnungo), which the Tibetans have rendered as mon sran rdeu, the term 

 Mon alluding to the origin from northern India or Himalayan regions (Mint. Soc. 

 finno-ougrienne, Vol. XI, p. 96). The Persians have borrowed the Indian word in the 

 form mung, which is based on the Indian vernacular munga or mungu (as in Singha- 

 lese; Pali mugga). Phaseolus tnungo is peculiar to India, and is mentioned in Vedic 

 literature (Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index, Vol. II, p. 166). 



