PLANTS MENTIONED IN CLASSICAL WORKS. 263 
Shi king, 211 :—On the embankments are magpie nests. 
On the height grows the beautiful pea (tao). 
Mao explains it only by name of a plant. [Compare the 
_ Rh ya, 87.] 
Lu xi:—The tao is also called 3 #% tao jao. The 
people of JH Yu chou (Northern Chili) call it 9] B 
_ Kiao jao. The stem of this plant is like that of the 3 FH 
lao tou (a kind of cultivated bean), but more slender. The 
_ leaves resemble those of the tsi li ( Tribulus terrestris, see 427). 
Stem and leaves can be eaten raw, like the leaves of the . 
y Hsiao tou (Phaseolus Mungo). . 
P., XXVII, 27. Ch. IV, 22, kiaojao. Rude figure. 
Leguminous plant. . 
~The plant represented in the So moku [XIII, 47] under 
dl Hi, is Vicia hirsuta, Koch, but in the Phon zo [XLIX, 
32] Lathyrus maritimus, Bigel. 
_ The ¢ao in the Shi king [423] refers, according to Lecag, 
[on the authority of the pda eine? to Bignonia 
grandiflora, 
me The flowers of the Bignonia (t‘iao) are of a deep yellow ; 
and, farther on:—The flowers of the Bignonia (t‘iao) are 
gone, there are only its leaves, all green. 
Carne Hiian says :—The ¢‘iao here is the same as Be 3 48 
ling tiao hua. The flowers are numerous and of a purple 
colour. Rh ya, 164, 165. 
Lu xt:—The tao is also called RE HR ling shi and ft EB 
: (rat’s tail). It resembles the 3 3% wang ch‘u 
- supra, 10] and grows in low damp places. The flowers 
Ppear in great profusion in the 7th and 8th months, are of © 
purple colour, like those of the 3% ¥¥ tsz‘ ts‘ao (Lithos- 
permum erythrorhizon). They afford a black dye and are 
used to dye the hair. 
: This account does not agree with Bignonia. Lv KI con- 
founds several plants, it seems. But the ling t‘iao or ling shi 
