PLANTS MENTIONED IN CLASSICAL WORKS. 195 
£., 43, family =. with three figures. Two varieties of one, 
and another distinct species. 
It has been found out at Kew that Chinese ginger is not 
Zingiber, but an Alpinia. 
JFap., 119, Alpinia Galangas, Sw., rat EB =. H., 37, Liang 
; chiang = Polygonatum sibiricum, Red. 
» 120, Alpinia japonica, Miq., Wy =. 
», 2398, Zingiber Mioga, Rosc., Re t- 
»» 2399, » officinale, Rosc., =. 
S.,X,.2. Pr., 100, Sm., 102, 127. Comp., Jap. 442, Canna 
indica, L., os se. 
L.— Cultivated Cucurbitaceous Plants. 
382.— J Kua is a generic term for the fruits of eucur- 
bitaceous plants, especially the cultivated ones. [Comp. 
W.D., 466]. 
The Shuo wen explains JK by [ih, but evidently ji Jo is 
meant, which, by an ancient author quoted in K.D., is 
said to denote fruits which ripen on the ground, The term 
refers especially to cucurbitaceous plants. 
The early Chinese commentators on the Classics do not give 
any more exact definition of the character Jf occurring so 
frequently in the Classics, Lage translates it variously by 
melon, gourd, cucumber ; Bror and Dovetas by melon. 
“Shi king, 231 [Life in Pin”]:—In the seventh month 
they eat the melons. 375 :—In the midst of the fields are 
the huts, and along the bounding divisions are gourds, and 
the fruit is slieed and pickled. 469 :—The gourds planted by 
Hov rst yielded abundantly, 437:—In long trains ever 
increasing grow the gourds and the tie [see farther on]. 
