SAFFLOWER 



17. A. DE CANDOLLE, 1 while maintaining that the cultivation of 

 safflower 2 (Carthamus tinctorius) is of ancient date both in Egypt and 

 India, asserts on Bretschneider's authority that the Chinese received it 

 only in the second century B.C., when Can K'ien brought it back from 

 Bactriana. The same myth is repeated by STUART. S The biography 

 of the general and the Han Annals contain nothing to this effect. Only 

 the Po wu Zi enumerates hwan Ian jK ii in its series of Can-K'ien plants, 

 adding that it can be used as a cosmetic (yen-U ffi 5i). 4 The Ku kin 

 cu, while admitting the introduction of the plant from the West, makes 

 no reference to the General. The 7sV min yao $u discusses the method 

 of cultivating the flower, but is silent as to its introduction. The fact 

 of this introduction cannot be doubted, but it is hardly older than the 

 third or fourth century A.D. under the Tsin dynasty. The introduction 

 of safflower drew the attention of the Chinese to an indigenous wild 

 plant (Basella rubrd) which yielded a similar dye and cosmetic, and 

 both plants and their products were combined or confounded under 

 the common name yen-H. 



Basella rubra, a climbing plant of the family Basellaceae, is largely 

 cultivated in China (as well as in India) on account of its berries, which 

 contain a red juice used as a rouge by women and as a purple dye for 

 making seal-impressions. This dye was the prerogative of the highest 



1 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 164. 



2 Regarding the history of this word, see YULE, Hobson-Jobson, p. 779. 



8 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 94. It is likewise an erroneous statement of Stuart 

 that Tibet was regarded by the Chinese as the natural habitat of this plant. This is 

 due to a confusion with the term Si-ts'an hun hwa ("red flower of Tibet "), which refers 

 to the saffron, and is so called because in modern times saffron is imported into 

 China from Kashmir by way of Tibet (see p. 312). Neither Carthamus nor saffron is 

 grown in the latter country. 



4 Some editions of the Po wu li add, "At present it has also been planted in 

 the land of Wei |)| (China)," which might convey the impression that it had only 

 been introduced during the third century A.D., the lifetime of Can Hwa, author of 

 that work. In the commentary to the Pei hu lu (Ch. 3, p. 12), the Po wu li is quoted 

 as saying, "The safflower (hun hwa JC ffi, 'red flower') has its habitat in Persia, 

 Su-le (Kashgar), and Ho-lu $f jjjfc. Now that of Lian-han |j g| is of prime quality, 

 a tribute of twenty thousand catties being annually sent to the Bureau of Weaving 

 and Dyeing." The term hun hwa in the written language does not refer to "saffron," 

 but to "safflower." Java produced the latter (Javanese kasumba), not saffron, as 

 translated by HIRTH (Chau Ju-kua, p. 78). The Can-K'ien story is repeated in the 

 Hwa kin of 1688 (Ch. 5, p. 24 b). 



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