THE CARROT 



52. The carrot 1 (Daucus carota), hu lo-po (Japanese ninjin) iK fli 'B 

 (" Iranian turnip"), a native of northern Europe, was first introduced 

 into China at the time of the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1260-1367). This is 

 the opinion of Li Si-cen, who states that the vegetable first appeared 

 at the time of the Yuan from the land of the Hu; and it is likewise main- 

 tained in the Kwan k'un fan p*u 2 that the carrot first came from the 

 countries beyond the frontier j H. I know of no text that would give 

 a more detailed account of its introduction or allude to the country of 

 its origin. Nevertheless it is very likely that this was some Iranian 

 region. Li Si-cen states that in his time it was abundantly culti- 

 vated in the northern part of the country and in San-tun, likewise 

 in middle China. 3 



The history of the carrot given by WATT 4 after G. Birdwood suffers 

 from many defects. A fundamental error underlies the statement, 

 "In fact, the evidence of cultivation would lead to the inference that 

 the carrot spread from Central Asia to Europe, and if so it might be 

 possible to trace the European names from the Indian and Persian." 

 On the contrary, the carrot is a very ancient, indigenous European 

 cultivation, which is by no means due to the Orient. Carrots have been 

 found in the pile-dwellings of Robenhausen. 5 It is not to the point, either, 

 that, as stated by Watt and Birdwood, "indeed the carrot seems to 

 have been grown and eaten in India, while in Europe it was scarcely 

 known as more than a wild plant." The Anglo-Saxons cultivated the 

 carrot in their original habitat of Schleswig-Holstein at a time when, 

 in my opinion, the carrot was not yet cultivated in India; and they con- 



1 From French carote, now carotte, Italian carota, Latin carota; Greek napwrbv 

 (in Diphilus). This word has supplanted Anglo-Saxon moru, from *morhu (Old 

 High German moraha, morha; Russian morkov', Slovenian mrkva). Regarding the 

 origin of the word lo-po, cf. T*oung Pao, 1916, pp. 83-86. 



2 Ch. 4, p. 24. 



3 A designation for the carrot not yet indicated is fu { lo-po, derived from the 

 three fu H f, the three decades of the summer, extending from about the middle 

 of July to the middle of August: during the first fu the seeds of the carrot are planted, 

 in the second fu the carrots are pale red, in the third they are yellow (San hwa Men 

 ci if ft JR Jg, Ch. 16, p. 14 b, ed. 1877). 



4 Commercial Products of India, p. 489, or Dictionary, Vol. Ill, p. 45. 



6 J. HOOPS, Waldbaume und Kulturpflanzen, p. 297; G. BUSCHAN, Vorge- 

 schichtliche Botanik, p. 148. 



451 



