JASMINE 



1 8. The Nan fan ts'ao mu Zwan & 3t ^ /fc JK, the oldest Chinese 

 work devoted to the botany of southern China, attributed to Ki Han 

 H &, a minister of the Emperor Hwei 8 (A.D. 290-309), contains 

 the following notice: 1 



"The ye-si-min tff> & 3% flower and the mo-li M M flower (Jas- 

 minum officinale, family Oleaceae) were brought over from western 

 countries by Hu people $5 A, and have been planted in Kwan-tun 

 (Nan hai Si $J). The southerners are fond of their fragrant odor, and 

 therefore cultivate them . . . The mo-li flower resembles the white 

 variety of ts'ian-mi ^ H (Cnidium monnieri), and its odor exceeds that 

 of the ye-si-min." 



In another passage of the same work 2 it is stated that the U-kia 

 JB V flower (Lawsonia alba)* ye-si-min, and mo-li were introduced by 

 Hu people from the country Ta Ts'in; that is, the Hellenistic Orient. 



The plant ye-si-min has been identified with Jasminum officinale; 

 the plant mo-li, wiih Jasminum sambac. Both species are now cultivated 

 in China on account of the fragrancy of the flowers and the oil that 

 they yield. 4 



The passage of the Nan fan ts*ao mu Zwan, first disclosed by BRET- 

 SCHNEIDER/ has given rise to various misunderstandings. HiRTH 6 

 remarked, "This foreign name, which is now common to all European 

 languages, is said to be derived from Arabic-Persian jasamm [read 

 ydsmm}, and the occurrence of the word in a Chinese record written 

 about A.D. 300 shows that it must have been in early use." WAITERS 7 

 regarded ydsmm as "one of the earliest Arabian words to be found in 

 Chinese literature." It seems never to have occurred to these authors 



1 Ch. A, p. 2 (ed. of Han Wei ts'un $u). 



2 Ch. B, p. 3. 



8 See below, p. 334. 



4 The sambac is a favored flower of the Chinese. In Peking there are special 

 gardeners who cultivate it exclusively. Every day in summer, the flower-buds are 

 gathered before sunrise (without branches or leaves) and sold for the purpose of 

 perfuming tea and snuff, and to adorn the head-dress of Chinese ladies. Jasminum 

 officinale is not cultivated in Peking (BRETSCHNEIDER, Chinese Recorder, Vol. Ill, 

 1871, p. 225). 



5 Chinese Recorder, Vol. Ill, p. 225. 



6 China and the Roman Orient, p. 270. 



7 Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 354. 



329 



