>y 
Ling -nan 
name of Long pepper; another Sanscrit name 
is Chavica (Of. Amarakocha 1. c. I. 99.100). 
Bontius (1. c. p. 182) says: “ Bengalenses 
Pimpilim nuncupant, quod nos, anctoritate 
graecorum Piper longum.” To what language 
A-li-ho-to must be referred, I am not able to 
say. Fo-lin designates, as is known, the 
Greek Empire. The plant is described by 
the Chinese authors as follows: The pi-pa 
belongs to the Betel genus. The leaves are 
shining thick and circular and resemble the 
Betel-leaf, the stem is like a tendon, the root 
is black and hard. The flowers are white, 
appear in the 3rd month, the fruit is long, 
like a little finger, of a greenish, blackish 
colour. In the 9th month it is gathered and 
dried in the sun. Its taste is like Hu-tsiao 
(Black pepper). The m a Hu-jen 
(Western Barbarians) like to mix it with 
their food. The plant occurs also in 
Po-ssu (Persia) and in 
(provinces of Kuang-tung and Ivuang-si) 
where it grows in Bamboo-forests. This de- 
scription suits quite well with the Chavica 
Poxburghii , a climbing plant with oval shining 
leaves, which is largely distributed in India. 
Long pepper consists of the spixes of flowers, 
which, while yet immature, are gathered and 
dried in the sun. There spikes and the roots 
are employed as medicine by the natives. 
The Jesuits confirm the statement of the 
Pen-ts‘ao, that Long pepper is produced also 
in Southern China (Cf. Grosier, la Chine, 
II. 525). 
The Fathers Boym and Martini (17th 
cent.) assert further, that the common Pepper 
(Piper nigrum) is cultivated in the Chinese 
province of Yiin-nan (Grosier, 1. c. II. 519). 
The same is stated in the Pen-ts‘ao, where 
Black pepper is described under the name of 
^ ,j)J^ Hu-tsiao (XXXII. 9). There it is 
said, that in Mo-kia-to (Maghada) it is called 
Mei-lu-chi. This name can 
be referred either to Markka, the Sanscrit 
name of Black pepper, or to Mirch , its name 
in Hindostani. I cannot find among the 
numerous Sanscrit synonyms of Black pepper, 
as given in the Amarakocha (1. c. I. p. 2 11.) 
a name, resembling the Greek peperi, from 
which originate all names of Pepper in the 
modern European languages. Hippocrates 
(5th century B. C.) states, that the Greeks 
received this product and the name peperi 
from the Persians. But the Persian name 
of Black pepper is Filfil. In my opinion the 
name peperi was wrongly applied in ancient 
times to Black pepper, for it seems to be 
derived from the Sanscrit Pi-pa-li , which 
relates to Long-pepper. 
3. 
ST 
Wu-lou-tsu. 
The Date Palm. Phoenix dactylifera. 
P. XXXI 22. 
Shi-ming. Explanation of names. The 
Date Palm bears according to the Pen-ts‘ao 
a great number of synonyms, of which Li- 
shi-ehen gives the following explanations. 
The tree is called 
Pk 
Po-ssYi-tsao- 
(Jujube from Persia) for it grows in Persia. 
(As regards Po-ssu-kuo I beg to refer to my 
article Chin. anc. geograph, names, Notes 
and Queries IV). The fruit is called 
ig |§|i, K u-l -rna. (By these sounds the 
Persian name of the Date, being “Khurma”’ 
is rendered as correctly as possible by Chi- 
nese characters). The names T#a 
Tkien nien-tsao (thousand years Jujube) and 
|||| Wan-sui-tsao (ten thousand 
-pjrc- ^ 
w 
Fan-isan (foreign Jujube), j-fft 
t*3 
years Jujube) are an allusion to its vigorous 
growth and long-lived character. The names 
j ic 
Hai-tsan (Ocean Jujube) ami Hai- 
tsung (Ocean Palm) relate to its foreign 
origin and to the resemblance of the fruit to 
the Jujube (Zizyphus vulgaris). It is furth- 
er called ik ^ Kin-kuo * (golden fruit) 
in allusion to its utility and high value. 
Description of the tree. Li-sld-chen states,, 
after a writer of the Ming (1368-1G44), that 
near Cheng-tu (the capital of the province 
of Ssu-eh‘uan) there are six Kin-kuo trees, 
of an aged appearance, planted at the time 
of the Han dynasty (about our era). They 
are 50-G0 feet in height, three fathoms in cir- 
cumference. The stem is erect like an ar- 
row, without lateral branches. The leaves 
are like a phoenix tail. The bark resembles 
dragon’s scales, the fruit is like a Jujube, 
but larger. Its foreign name is Kn-lu-ma 
(v. s.) The author adds, that the fruit 
becomes edible only (he spt-.k.- apparently 
of the Ssu-chman fruit.) aft. r a t ’ Ament 
with honey and other complicated processes. 
• -This description suits quite w ' with the 
Date-palm. It. is known, that, : m is 
marked with scars, indicating places 
from which the leave? tor f o ..way in 
proportion as the tree has gr> in height, 
and at the top new leaves unfnhied. These 
* I must observe, that now a days the fruit of Salis- 
buria adiantifolia bears also the name of Kin-Jmo (Jin- 
1 ko in Japanese.) 
