THE POMEGRANATE 281 



The Annals of the Liu Sung Dynasty, A.D. 420-477 (SunSu), contain 

 the following account: "At the close of the period Yiian-kia % 51 

 (A.D. 424-453), when T'ai Wu (A.D. 424-452) * ^ of the Wei dynasty 

 conquered the city Ku jtfci^, 1 he issued orders to search for sugar- 

 cane and pomegranates (nan Si liu). Can C'aii 3fi H said that pome- 

 granates (Si-liu) come from Ye." This is the same locality as mentioned 

 above. 



The Stan kwo ki H H IB 2 reports that in the district of Luii-kan 

 H O /IS 3 there are good pomegranates (Si liu). These various examples 

 illustrate that in the beginning the tree was considered as peculiar to 

 certain localities, and that accordingly a gradual dissemination must 

 have taken place. Apparently no ancient Chinese author is informed 

 as to the locality from which the tree originally came, nor as to the how 

 and when of the transplantation. 



The Kwan U I? JS, written by Kwo Yi-kun SB il ^ prior to A.D. 

 527, as quoted in the Ts'i min yao Su, discriminates between two varie- 

 ties of pomegranate (nan Si liu), a sweet and a sour one, in the same 

 manner as T'ao Hun-kin. 4 This distinction is already made by Theo- 

 phrastus. 5 As stated above, there was also a bitter variety. 6 



It is likewise a fact of great interest that we have an isolated instance 

 of the occurrence of a pomegranate-tree that reverted to the wild state. 

 The Lu San ki Jf Ul fffi 7 contains this notice: "On the summit of the 

 Hian-lu fun ?J^ ('Censer-Top') there is a huge rock on which 

 several people can sit. There grows a wild pomegranate (San Si-liu 

 ill ~fi t) drooping from the rock. In the third month it produces blos- 

 soms. In color these resemble the [cultivated] pomegranate, but they 



1 Modern Cen-tin fu in Ci-li Province. 



2 Thus in T'ai p*in yu Ian, Ch. 970, p. 5 b; the Ts'i min yao Su (Ch. 4, p. 14) 

 ascribes the same text to the Kin k'ou ki JEjl P ffS. 



3 At present the district which forms the prefectural city of Sun-te in Ci-li 

 Province. 



4 Above, p. 279. 



5 Historia plantarum, II. II, 7. 



6 Pliny (XIII, 113) distinguishes five varieties, dulcia, acria, mixta, acida, 

 vinosa. 



7 T*ai p*in yu Ian, Ch. 970, p. 5. The Lu Mountain is situated in Kian-si Prov- 

 ince, twenty-five li south of Kiu-kian. A work under the title Lu San ki was written 

 by C'en Lin-ku $ft & ^ in the eleventh century (WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Liter- 

 ature, p. 55); but, as the T'ai p'in yil Ian was published in A.D. 983, the question here 

 must be of an older work of the same title. In fact, there is a Lu San ki by Kin Si 

 ^ y^ of the Hou Cou dynasty; and the Yuan kien lei nan (Ch. 402, p. 2) ascribes 

 the same text to the Cou Kin Si Lu Ian ki. The John Crerar Library of Chicago 

 (No. 156) possesses a Lu San siao ti in 24 chapters, written by Ts'ai Yin ^ ^ and 

 published in 1824. 



