Saffron and Turmeric 313 



"ginger-yellow"), C pallida, C. petiolata, C. zedoaria. Which particular 

 species was anciently known in China, is difficult to decide; but it 

 appears that at least one species was utilized in times of antiquity. 

 Curcuma longa and C. leucorrhiza are described not earlier than theT'ang 

 period, and the probability is that either they were introduced from the 

 West; or, if on good botanical evidence it can be demonstrated that 

 these species are autochthonous, 1 we are compelled to assume that 

 superior cultivated varieties were imported in the T'ang era. In regard 

 to yii-kin (C. leucorrhiza), Su Kun of the seventh century observes 

 that it grows in Su (Se-c'wan) and Si-zun, and that the Hu call it 

 $f ijt ma-lu, *mo-dzut (dzut), 2 while he states with reference to kian- 

 hwah (C. longa) that the Zun 2$G A call it ^ Su, *dzut (dzut, dzur) ; 

 he also insists on the close resemblance of the two species. Likewise 

 C'en Ts'ah-k'i, who wrote in the first part of the eighth century, states 

 concerning kian-hwan that the kind coming from the Western Bar- 

 barians (Si Fan) is similar to yii-kin and Su yao £§ I3I. 3 Su Sun of the 

 Sung remarks that yii-kin now occurs in all districts of Kwan-tuh and 

 Kwah-si, but does not equal that of Se-c'wan, where it had previously 

 existed. K'ou Tsun-si 4 states that yii-kin is not aromatic, and that in 

 his time it was used for the dyeing of woman's clothes. Li Si-cen re- 

 minds us of the fact that yii-kin was a product of the Hellenistic Orient 

 (Ta Ts'in) : this is stated in the Wei lio of the third century, 5 and the 

 Liah Su 6 enumerates yii-kin among the articles traded from Ta Ts'in 

 to western India. 7 



The preceding observations, in connection with the foreign names 



1 According to Loureiro (Flora Cochin-Chinensis, p. 9), Curcuma longa 

 grows wild in Indo-China. 



2 This foreign name has not been pointed out by Bretschneider or Stuart or 

 any previous author. 



* This term is referred (whether correctly, I do not know) to Kcempferia 

 pundurata (Stuart, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 227). Another name for this 

 plant is J|r §£ jrj£ p'un-no Su (not mou), *buh-ha. Now, Ta Mih states that the 

 Curcuma growing on Hai-nan is ^ ^ j^E P'un-no Su, while that growing in Kian-nan 

 is kian-hwan (Curcuma longa). Kcempferia belongs to the same order as Curcuma, 

 — Scitamineae. According to Ma Ci of the Sung, this plant grows in Si-zuh and in 

 all districts of K wan-nan; it is poisonous, and the people of the West first test it 

 on sheep : if these refuse to eat it, it is discarded. Chinese p'un-no, *buh-na, looks like 

 a transcription of Tibetan bon-na, which, however, applies to aconite. 



* Pen ts'ao yen i, Ch. io, p. 3. 

 6 San kwo U, Ch. 30, p. 13. 



6 Ch. 78, p. 7. 



7 The question whether in this case Curcuma or Crocus is meant, cannot be 

 decided; both products were known in western Asia. C'en Ts'ah-k'i holds that the 

 yii-kin of Ta Ts'in was safflower (see below). 



