IRANO-SINICA RHUBARB, VARIOUS PLANTS 551 



JOHN GERARDE 1 illustrates the rhubarb-plant and annotates, "It 

 is brought out of the countrie of Sina (commonly called China) which 

 is towarde the east in the upper part of India, and that India which is 

 without the river Ganges: and not at all Ex Scenitarum provincia, 

 (as many do unadvisedly thinke) which is in Arabia the happie, and far 

 from China/' etc. "The best rubarbe is that which is brought from 

 China fresh and newe," etc. 



WATT 2 gives a Persian term revande-hindi ("Indian rhubarb") for 

 Rheum emodi. Curiously, in Hindustani this is called Hindi-remand 

 cim ("Chinese rhubarb of India")? and in Bengali Bangla-revan cml 

 ("Chinese rhubarb of Bengal"), indicating that the Chinese product 

 was preeminently in the minds of the people, and that the Himalayan 

 rhubarbs were only secondary substitutes. 



10. Abu Mansur 3 mentions under the Arabic name ratta a fruit 

 called "Indian hazel-nut" (bunduq-i hindi), also Chinese Salsola kali. 

 It is the size of a small plum, contains a small blackish stone, and 

 is brought from China. It is useful in chronic diseases and in cases of 

 poisoning, and is hot and dry in the second degree. This is Sapindus 

 mukorossi, in Chinese wu (or mu)-hwan-tse $& (or /fC) ,S -?* (with a 

 number of synonymes), the seeds being roasted and eaten. 



11. Arabic suk, a drug composed of several ingredients, according 

 to Ibn Sina, was originally a secret Chinese remedy formed with amlaj 

 (Sanskrit amalaka, Phyllanthus emblica, the emblic myrobalan). 4 It 

 is the 3 j|l (jf an-mo-lOj *an-mwa-lak, of the Chinese. 5 In Persian it 

 is amala or amula. 



12. Persian guli xaira (xairu) is explained as Chinese and Persian 

 hollyhock (Alihcea rosea). Q This is the $u k'wei 13 U ("mallow of Se- 

 c'wan") of the Chinese, also called Zun k'wei ("mallow of the Zun"). 

 It is the common hollyhock, which STUART T thinks may have been 

 originally introduced into China from some western country. 



13. Ibn al-Baitar 8 speaks of a "rose of China" (ward smi), usually 

 called nisrin. According to Leclerc, this is a malvaceous plant. In 

 Persian we find gul-cim ("rose of China"), the identification of which, 



1 The Herball or Generall Historic of Plantes, p. 317 (London, 1597). 

 ~ Dictionary, Vol. VI, p. 486. 



3 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 74. 



4 E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 215. 



5 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 30, p. 5 b; Fan yi min yi tsi, Ch. 8, p. I. STUART (Chinese 

 Materia Medica, p. 421) wrongly identifies the name with Spondias amara. 



6 STEINGASS, Persian Dictionary, p. 1092. 



7 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 33. 



8 LECLERC, Traits' des simples, Vol. Ill, pp. 369, 409. 



