18 THK LVCHKK AND LUNGAN 



Hunan province a man named T'ang Ch'iang (j|f^) sent a 

 memorial, protesting against the amount of tribute, and Emperor Ho 

 Ti (5fljif?), A.D. 89 issued a proclamation ordering his ''T'ai 

 Kuan " (^:W) or Official in Charge of the Collection of Tribute, to 

 diminish the amount."' 



As pointed out in the Kit Chin Tu Shu Chi Chcny r^IU 

 ^H^), 1 "The Chinese Encyclopedia of Ancient and Modern 

 Times, " each of the three great Chinese literary works 2 dealing with 

 plants refers to the lychee. In the first of these, "Features of 

 Plants in the South," Chi Han ($?) includes the lychee among the 

 80 species described listing it as a fruit tree. In this work he 

 carefully records the characteristics of the tree and fruit and states its 

 yield, all of which agree with the lychee of the present day. 



This Compendium of Chinese Literature heivin referred to was drawn 

 up and published under Imperial authority in 1726. The botanical section 

 of this gigantic compilation, Ts'ao Muh Tien (^T^Cjft;, comprises 320 books. 

 See Bretschneider, Botanicon Sinicum, pages 71, 72 and note 24. 



2 a. Nan Fang Ts'ao Muh C/iuang ($$)j '*$.%$&}. 



"This is the earliest Chinese treatise dealing with plants and bear 

 a purely botanical character. The author was Kl Han, a Minister of State 

 under Hui Ti of the Tsin Dynasty (A.D. 290-307). He had been 

 previously governor of Canton. We meet in it interesting accounts of some 

 trees and other plants known at that time in South China, some of them 

 brought from distant foreign countries. The plants are treated under the 

 four classes of herbs, forest trees, fruit trees and bamboos, including in all 

 80 species." See Bretschneider, Botanicon Sinicum, page 38. 



b. Pen Ts'ao Kang Mu 



"This is the celebrated Chinese Materia Medica written more than 

 300 years ago and well known in Europe ....... It represents indeed the 



most important native work on Materia Medica and Natural History." See 

 Bretschneider, Botttnicon Sinwuni, page 47. 



c. Tu King Pen Ti ao 



This is an illustrated Materia Medica comprising 21 books. It was 

 compiled by Su Sung of Fukien province and published by Imperial Order. 



Sec Bretschneider, Botanicon Sinicitw, page 47. 



