The Spinach 393 



the table of contents preceding each chapter, and spinach ranks among 

 these novelties. Judging from the description here given, it must have 

 been a favorite vegetable in the Sung period. It is said to be particularly 

 beneficial to the people in the north of China, who feed on meat and 

 flour (chiefly in the form of vermicelli), while the southerners, who 

 subsist on fish and turtles, cannot eat much of it, because their water 

 food makes them cold, and spinach brings about the same effect. 1 

 The Kia yii (or hwa) lu £ 3§ (or R) ft by Liu Yu-si ft ^ £§ (a.d. 

 772-842) is cited to the effect that "po-lin *<$£ |§ was originally in the 

 western countries, and that its seeds came thence to China 2 in the 

 same manner as alfalfa and grapes were brought over by Can K'ien. 

 Originally it was the country of Po-lin M W., and an error arose in the 

 course of the transmission of the word, which is not known to many at 

 this time." 



The first and only historical reference to the matter that we have 

 occurs in the T'an hui yao, 3 where it is on record, "At the time of the 

 Emperor T'ai Tsun (a.d. 627-649), in the twenty-first year of the period 

 Ceh-kwan (a.d. 647), Ni-p'o-lo (Nepal) sent to the Court the vegetable 

 po-lin fmWt, resembling the flower of the hun-lan %L He (Carthamus 

 tinctorius), the fruit being like that of the tsi-li 2^! 1£ (Tribulus ter- 

 restris). Well cooked, it makes good eating, and is savory." 4 



This text represents not only the earliest datable mention of the 

 vegetable in Chinese records, but in general the earliest reference to it 

 that we thus far possess. This document shows that the plant then was 

 a novelty not only to the Chinese, but presumably also to the people 

 of Nepal; otherwise they would not have thought it worthy of being 

 sent as a gift to China, which was made in response to a request of the 



1 John Gerarde (The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, p. 260, London, 

 *597) remarks, "Spinach is evidently colde and moist, almost in the second degree, 

 but rather moist. It is one of the potherbes whose substance is waterie." 



2 According to another reading, a Buddhist monk (seft) is said to have brought 

 the seeds over, which sounds rather plausible. G. A. Stuart remarks that the herb 

 is extensively used by the monks in their lenten fare. 



3 Ch. 200, p. 14 b (also Ch. 100, p. 3 b). Cf. Ts'efu yuan kwei, Ch. 970, p. 12, 

 and Pei hu lu, Ch. 2, p. 19 b (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 



* The T'ai p'in yii Ian (Ch. 980, p. 7) attributes this text to the T'ang Annals. 

 It is not extant, however, in the account of Nepal inserted in the two T'an Su, nor 

 in the notice of Nepal in the T'an hui yao. Pen ts'ao kan mu, T'u Su tsi Ven, and 

 Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao (Ch. 5, p. 37) correctly cite the above text from the T'an hui 

 yao, with the only variant that the leaves of the po-lin resemble those of the hun- 

 lan. The Fun Si wen kien ki (Ch. 7, p. 1 b) by Fun Yen of the ninth century 

 (above, p. 232), referring to the same introduction, offers a singular name for the 

 spinach in the form $£ $| \ % jS| po-lo-pa-tsao, *pa-la-bat-tsaw, or, if tsao, denot- 

 ing several aquatic plants, does not form part of the transcription, *pa-la-bat(bar). 



