412 Sino-Iranica 



fruit on its internal surface. On cutting open a fig when it has attained 

 little more than one-third its size, the flowers will be seen in full develop- 

 ment. 1 



The common fig-tree (Ficus carica) is no less diffused over the Iran- 

 ian plateau than the pomegranate. The variety rupestris is found in 

 the mountains Kuh-Kiluyeh; and another species, Ficus johannis, 

 occurs in Afghanistan between Tebbes and Herat, as well as in Baluchis- 

 tan. 2 In the mountain districts of the Taurus, Armenia, and in the 

 Iranian table-lands, fig-culture long ago reached a high development. 

 Toward the east it has spread to Khorasan, Herat, Afghanistan, as well 

 as to Merw and Khiwa. 3 There can be no doubt, either, that the fig was 

 cultivated in Sasanian Persia; for it is mentioned in Pahlavi literature 

 (above, p. 192), and we have a formal testimony to this effect in the 

 Annals of the Liang dynasty, which ascribe udambara to Po-se (Persia) 

 and describe the blossoms as charming. 4 In India, as stated, this term 

 refers to Ficus glomerata; in China, however, it appears to be also used 

 for Ficus carica. Hiian Tsan 5 enumerates udambara among the fruits 

 of India. 



Strabo 6 states that in Hyrcania (in Bactria) each fig-tree annually 

 produced sixty medimni (one bushel and a half) of fruit. According to 

 Herodotus, 7 Croesus was dissuaded from his expedition against Cyrus 

 on the plea that the Persians did not even drink wine, but merely water, 

 nor did they have figs for sustenance. This, of course, is an anecdote 

 without historical value, for we know surely enough that the ancient 

 Persians possessed both grapes and wine. Another political anecdote 

 of the Greeks is that of Xerxes, who, by having Attic figs served at his 

 meals, was daily reminded of the fact that the land where they grow was 

 not yet his own. The new discovery of the presence of figs in ancient 

 Babylonia warrants the conclusion that they were likewise known and 

 consumed in ancient Persia. 



We have no means of ascertaining as to when and how the fig 

 spread from Iran to China. The Yu yah tsa tsu is reticent as to the 

 transmission, and merely describes the tree as existing in Fu-lin and 



1 Lindley and Moore, Treasury of Botany, pt. 1, p. 492. 



2 C. Joret, Plantes dans l'antiquite\ Vol. II, p. 45. 



8 G. Eisen, The Fig: Its History, Culture, and Curing, p. 20 (U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, 1901). 



4 Lian Su, Ch. 54, p. 14 b. Read yu-Van-po instead of yu-po-Van, as there printed 

 through an oversight. 



6 Ta T"a« si yii ki, Ch. 2, p. 8. 



• II. I, 14. 



7 1, 71. 



