280 SlNO-lRANICA 



are the particular places where the pomegranate thrives. Su Sun of 

 the Sung period states that the pomegranate was originally grown in 

 the Western Countries (S* yii ffi $S), and that it now occurs everywhere; 

 but neither he nor any other author makes a positive statement as to 

 the time and exact place of origin. The Yao sin lun, Pen ts'ao si i, 

 and Pen ts'ao yen i l give merely a botanical notice, but nothing of his- 

 torical interest. 



The pomegranate (si-liu) is mentioned in the "Poem on the Capital 

 of Wu" ^ U 8R by Tso Se & J&, who lived in the third century under 

 the Wu dynasty (A.D. 222-280). P'an Yo iS -r, a poet of the fourth 

 century A.D., says, "Pomegranates are the most singular trees of the 

 empire and famous fruits of the Nine Provinces. 2 A thousand seed- 

 cases are enclosed by the same membrane, and what looks like a single 

 seed in fact is ten/' 



The Tsin Lun nan k'i ku lu W 81 ^ jfi Jg & (" Annotations on 

 the Conditions of the period Lun-nan [A.D. 397-402] of the Tsin Dy- 

 nasty") contains the following note: 3 "The pomegranates (nan si 

 liu) of the district Lin-yuan IS Sc in Wu-liii B IS 4 are as large as cups; 

 they are not sour to the taste. Each branch bears six fruits." 



Lu Hui l^ftB of the Tsin dynasty, in his Ye lun ki US 3* ffi, 5 states 

 that in the park of Si Hu ^ fit there were pomegranates with seeds as 

 large as cups, and they were not sour. Si Hu or Si Ki-lufi 3? ^ fl ruled 

 from A.D. 335 to 349, under the appellation T'ai Tsu ;Jc IB. of the Hou 

 Cao dynasty, as "regent celestial king" (ku-se t'ien wan), and shifted 

 the capital to Ye ISi$, the present district of Lin-fen B$ f, in the pre- 

 fecture of Can-te ^ IS in Ho-nan. 6 



The pomegranate is mentioned in the Ku kin Zu "ifr ^ ft, 7 written 

 by Ts'ui Pao -S f5 during the middle of the fourth century, with 

 reference to the pumelo W (Citrus grandis), the fruit of which is com- 

 pared in shape with the pomegranate. The Ts'i min yao Su (I.e.) gives 

 rules for the planting of pomegranates. 



1 Ch. 1 8, p. 7 (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan); the other texts see in Cert lei pen ts'ao, I. c. 



2 JL ^H , the ancient division of China under the Emperor Yu. 



8 T'ai p'iA yii Ian, Ch. 970, p. 4 b. Regarding the department of records styled 

 k'i ku tu, see The Diamond, p. 35. In the Yuan kien lei han (Ch. 402, p. 2) the 

 same text is credited to the Sun Su. 



4 In Hu-nan Province. 



5 Ed. of Wu yin tien, p. 12. 



6 Regarding his history, see L. WIEGER, Textes historiques, pp. 1095-1100. 

 BRETSCHNEIDER'S (Bot. Sin., pt. I, p. 211) note, that, besides the Ye lun ki of Lu 

 Hui, there isjanother work of the same name by Si Hu, is erroneous; Si Hu is simply 

 the "hero" of the Ye lun ki. 



1 Ch. c, p. i (ed. of Han Wei ts'un Su or Ki fu ts'un Su). Cf. also below, p. 283. 



