Pepper 375 



its synonyme Si 2un; at least, it appears certain that the latter term 

 bears no reference to India. Li Si-cen gives as localities where the 

 plant is cultivated, "all countries of the Southern Barbarians (Nan 

 Fan), Kiao-ci (Annam), Yun-nan, and Hai-nan." 



Another point of interest is that in the T'an pen ts'ao of Su Kun 

 appears a species called San hu tsiao \\\ #) ffl> or wild pepper, described 

 as resembling the cultivated species, of black color, with a grain the 

 size of a black bean, acrid taste, great heat, and non-poisonous. This 

 plant-name has been identified with Lindera glauca by A. Henry, 1 

 who says that the fruit is eaten by the peasants of Yi-c'an, Se-6'wan. 

 The same author offers a ye hu-tsiao ("wild pepper"), being Zanihoxy- 

 lum setosum. 



Piper longum or Chavica roxburghii, Chinese ljh jc or iJfl pi-po, 

 *pit-pat(pal), from Sanskrit pippali, is likewise attributed to Sasanian 

 Persia. 2 This pepper must have been also imported into Iran from 

 India, for it is a native of the hotter parts of India from Nepal east- 

 ward to Assam, the Khasia hills and Bengal, westward to Bombay, 

 and southward to Travancore, Ceylon, and Malacca. 3 It is therefore 

 surprising to read in the Pen ts'ao of the T'ang that pi-po grows in the 

 country Po-se: this cannot be Persia, but refers solely to the Malayan 

 Po-se. For the rest, the Chinese were very well aware of the Indian 

 origin of the plant, as particularly shown by the adoption of the San- 

 skrit name. It is first mentioned in the Nan fan ts'ao mu twan, unless 

 it be there one of the interpolations in which this work abounds, but 

 it is mixed up with the betel-pepper (Chavica betel). 



1 Chinese Names of Plants, No. 45. 



2 Cou Su, Ch. 50, p. 6. 



3 Watt, Commercial Products of India, p. 891. 



