JASMINE 



1 8. The Nan fan ts'ao mu huah W ~fS ^ fc %k, the oldest Chinese 

 work devoted to the botany of southern China, attributed to Ki Han 

 f& c^, a minister of the Emperor Hwei M (a.d. 290-309), contains 

 the following notice: 1 — 



"The ye-si-mih $$ iS H flower and the mo-li ^ M flower (Jas- 

 minum officinale, family Oleaceae) were brought over from western 

 countries by Hu people tfi A, and have been planted in Kwah-tuh 

 (Nan hai $J M) . The southerners are fond of their fragrant odor, and 

 therefore cultivate them . . . The mo-li flower resembles the white 

 variety of ts'iah-mi H J| (Cnidium monnieri), and its odor exceeds that 

 of the ye-si-min" 



In another passage of the same work 2 it is stated that the U-kia 

 Jb t flower (Lawsonia alba), 3 ye-si-min, and mo-li were introduced by 

 Hu people from the country Ta Ts'in; that is, the Hellenistic Orient. 



The plant ye-si-min has been identified with Jasminum officinale; 

 the plant mo-/*', with Jasminum sambac. Both species are now cultivated 

 in China on account of the fragrancy of the flowers and the oil that 

 they yield. 4 



The passage of the Nan fan ts'ao mu huah, first disclosed by Bret- 

 schneider, 5 has given rise to various misunderstandings. Hirth 6 

 remarked, "This foreign name, which is now common to all European 

 languages, is said to be derived from Arabic-Persian jdsamin [read 

 yasmin], and the occurrence of the word in a Chinese record written 

 about a.d. 300 shows that it must have been in early use." Watters 7 

 regarded yasmin as "one of the earliest Arabian words to be found in 

 Chinese literature." It seems never to have occurred to these authors 



1 Ch. A, p. 2 (ed. of Han Wei ts'un Su). 



• Ch. B, p. 3. 



s See below, p. 334. 



4 The sambac is a favored flower of the Chinese. In Peking there are special 

 gardeners who cultivate it exclusively. Every day in summer, the flower-buds are 

 gathered before sunrise (without branches or leaves) and sold for the purpose of 

 perfuming tea and snuff, and to adorn the head-dress of Chinese ladies. Jasminum 

 officinale is not cultivated in Peking (Bretschneider, Chinese Recorder, Vol. Ill, 

 1871, p. 225). 



6 Chinese Recorder, Vol. Ill, p. 225. 



6 China and the Roman Orient, p. 270. 



7 Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 354. 



329 



