176 | BOTANICON SINICUM. 
363.—The character JE fei occurs only once in the Shi king 
and together with feng [v. 361]. Leces calls it the earth 
melon. 
Shi king g, 55:—When we gather the mustard plant (je /, 
and the earth melons (fe) we do not reject them because 0 
their roots. 
Cut Hi explains :—The leaves, stalks and root of the jeny 
and fei are all edible; and if sometimes the root or lowe 
part be bad, yet the whole plant is not on that account : 
thrown away. 
In the Corr. Anal. [79] we have the phrase JE & tk 
which means coarse food and drink. Le 
In the Rh ya, the character fei is referred to two different ‘ 
plants. In 50 it is identified with #y wu. Kuo P*o says — 
that this is the + JR t‘u kua which latter term Lecgs — 
translates by “earth melon;” but kua is a general name for the 
fruits of cucurbitaceous plants and may as well be translated : 
by gourd. In P., t‘u kua is given as one of the names 
| for Thladiantha dubia, Bge., [v. infra, 386]. The same 
character Lfe‘] in the Rh ya [106] is identified with i 
st ts‘ai, regarding which Kuo P*‘o says that it is an edibl 
- plant, growing in marshy places and resembling the wu ses 
(turnip), but it has violet flowers. Z 
Mao identifies the fei of the Shi king with wu in the 
Rhy ya (50). 
| Lu kt says :—The fei resembles the # ju {e. infra, 44 
Calysteyia?], It has a coarse stem, thick, long — lea 
covered with hairs, The people eat it (not said what 
: the plant) steamed ; it is of an agreeable, sweet tastes 
In fi JM] Yu chou (Northern Chili) they call it ww. In 
Rh ya it is si ts‘ai, In if AY Ho nei (Southern shat 
it is known by the name of fa HE su ts‘ai, 
= _ The fed is not spokea of in the Pen ts‘ao. From the abov 
vague accounts given by the ancient authors regarding thi 
