228 BOTANICON SINICUM. 
Shi king, 148 :—Ladies and gentlemen are carrying flowers 
of valerian (kien), 214:—By the shores of that marsh, 
there are rushes and valerian. : oe 
Lu k1:—The plant kien in the Shi king is the same as the 
fragrant plant jj lan. This latter is mentioned in the Tso 
chuan, also in the Ts‘u sz‘, or Elegies of Ts‘u [by Kt Yin, 
4th century B.C.] K‘uxe@ tz (Confucius) says [probably 
in the Kia yi, or Family Sayings of C.], the lan is the 
fragrancy (fragrant flower) -of the king. The stem and leat 
are like those of the medicinal plant #2 PR tse lan (marsh 
_ lan). The joints are wide apart, and the stem between them 
is red, and it rises to a height of four or five feet. In th 
time of the Han, this plant was cultivated in the Imperial 
gardens. It was added to cosmetics, and was used also to 
preserve clothes and books from insects, ee 
The lan is mentioned in the Ilia Calendar [74, fitth 
month] :—Tenderly nurtured are the Vanda plants. I agree 
with Prof. Doueas in this identification of the lan. 
Li ki, I, 458 :—If anyone give the wife an article of food 
and dress, a piece of cloth or silk, a handkerchief for he 
girdle, an Iris [ch%?, v. infra, 411] or Orchid (lan), 
should receive it and ofter it to her parents-in-law. : : 
Tso chuan, 294 :—The lan is there called the most fragram 
flower of the State. A legend reported regarding this flower 
and a Duke of one of the feudal states (B.C. 603]. Re 
Li sao :—The fragrant lan plant is frequently mentioned 
by KG Yéan [4, 10, 13, 19, 49, 55, 56, 58]. In 4, he speaks 
of the ts‘ lan or autumn lan. The name of the Jan flowe 
appears frequently in’ the compositions of the ancient Chinese 
poets. . ae 
The account given of the lan in the Rh ya i is very 
obscure. It is said there to bea very fragrant plant whi we 
_ Sows in the depths of forests. It resembles the hui [see t 
newt] but differs from the latter in bearing only a sing 
