316 Sino-Iranica 



with this dye. Abu Hanifa has a long discourse on it. 1 Ibn Hassan 

 knew the root of wars, and confounded it with saffron. 2 Ibn al-Baitar 

 offers a lengthy notice of it. 3 Two species are distinguished, — one from 

 Ethiopia, black, and of inferior quality; and another from India, of a 

 brilliant red, yielding a dye of a pure yellow. A variety called bdrida 

 dyes red. It is cultivated in Yemen. Also the association with Cur- 

 cuma and Crocus is indicated. Isak Ibn Amran remarks, "It is said 

 that wars represents roots of Curcuma, which come from China and 

 Yemen"; and Ibn Massa el-Basri says, "It is a substance of a brilliant 

 red which resembles pounded saffron." This explains why the Chinese 

 included it in the term yii-kin. Leclerc also has identified the wars 

 of the Arabs with Memecylon tinctorium, and adds, "L'ouars n'est pas 

 le produit exclusif de l'Arabie. On le rencontre abondamment dans 

 l'Inde, notamment aux environs de Pondich6ry qui en a envoye" en 

 Europe, aux dernieres expositions. II s'appelle kana dans le pays." 4 

 The Yamato honzo speaks of yii-kin as a dye-stuff coming from Siam; 

 this seems to be also Memecylon. 



The fact that the Chinese included the product of Memecylon in 

 the term yii-kin appears to indicate that this cheap coloring-matter 

 was substituted in trade for the precious saffron. 



While the Chinese writers on botany and pharmacology have over- 

 looked yii-kin as the name of a tree, they have clearly recognized that 

 the term principally serves for the designation of the saffron, the product 

 of the Crocus sativus. This fact is well borne out by the descriptions 

 and names of the plant, as well as by other evidence. 



The account given of Central India in the Annals of the Liang 

 Dynasty 5 expressly states that yii-kin is produced solely in Kashmir 

 (Ki-pin), that its flower is perfectly yellow and fine, resembling the 

 flower fu-yun (Hibiscus mutabilis). Kashmir was always the classical 

 land famed for the cultivation of saffron, which was (and is) thence 

 exported to India, Tibet, Mongolia, and China. In Kashmir, Uddiyana, 



1 Achundow, Abu Mansur, p. 272. 



2 Leclerc, Trait6 des simples, Vol. Ill, p. 167. 

 8 Ibid., p. 409. 



4 Arabic wars has also been identified with Flemingia congesta (Watt, Diction- 

 ary, Vol. Ill, p. 400) and Mallotus philippinensis (ibid., Vol. V, p. 114). The whole 

 subject is much confused, particularly by Fluckiger and Hanbury (Pharma- 

 cographia, p. 573; cf. also G. Jacob, Beduinenleben, p. 15, and Arab. Geographen, 

 p. 166), but this is not the place to discuss it. The Chinese description of the yii-kin 

 tree does not correspond to any of these plants. 



6 Lian Su, Ch. 54, p. 7 b. This work was compiled by Yao Se-lien in the first 

 half of the seventh century from documents of the Liang dynasty, which ruled from 



A.D. 502 to 556. 



