China, it is not certain, whether it is in 
digeiious to China or introduced from Central 
Asia. The author, who first mentions buck- 
wheat in China wrote during the Sung dyn- 
asty 960-1280. * 
The character Ma, which now-a-days 
relates to all kinds of textile plants seems 
originally to have been used to designate the 
common Hemp (Cannabis sativa). As I have 
stated above, tlxe Rh-ya notes a female ma, 
which furnishes only seeds and a male. 
This can only denote the Cannabis sativa, 
with the male and female flowers on dis- 
tinct plants. The ma is mentioned in the 
Shu-king. The Pen ts‘ao calls it 
Ta-ma (great Hemp) P. XXII ii. Ch. W. L, 
and observes that the seeds of the ma are 
innoxious, whilst the leaves are poisonous- 
This agrees also with the Hemp. 
Another textile plant mentioned in the 
Chou-li (Book XYI. translation of Biot I p. 
379) and in the Shen-nung pen ts‘aa, is the 
Ko (P. XVIII 42). It is according to 
the drawing in the Ch. W. XXII a twining 
Lemiminosa: according to Hoffman and 
Schultes (Noms ind. d. plantesd. JFapon et. 
d. 1. Chine) Pachyrrhi^iis Tkunbcrgianus. 
In the same manner as the ancient Chinese 
enumerate 5 cardinal cereals, they distin- 
guish also 5 garden fruits, Jp; Wu-kuo. 
These fruits are, according to the Pen-ts‘ao: 
li, ^ sing , ^ t l ao, li, j|| 
tsao, 
and as the Rh-ya, the Chou-li, Shi-king and 
other works of great antiquity mention them, 
there can no be doubt, that they are indigen- 
* All the above mentioned cereals are cultivated in 
the plain of Poking. The Chinese records state, 
that at the time of the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty 
12S(i-l>i(J8, the plain of Peking was hardly cultiva- 
ted. it being used as pasture for Mongolian horses. 
Only since the Court of the Ming dynasty 1363-1644 
which first resided at Nanking, was transferred to 
Peking (Bmperor Yunglo 1403-1424) several Chi- 
nese cereals began to be sowed and at first only the 
Sorgho (Kao-liang) was cultivated. 
It would, I think, not be without interest to 
give here a comparative list of the prices of the 
principal corns cultivated at Peking. 
King-mi ("best sort: of rice) 
1 catty (1 J ft English) .. 560 cash. 
Kiang-rni ('glutinous rice) 1 catty 460 „ 
Wheaton meal 1 catty . . . . 860-420 „ 
Pai-mi ('common rice) 1 catty.. 280 „ 
Huang-mi (glutinous millet) 
p catty 240 ,, 
Mei-tsu-mi (Panicum) 1 catty 200 „ 
Barley 1 catty 195 „ 
Siao-mi (Setaria ital) 1 catty .. 180 „ 
Kao-liang (Sorgho) 1 catty .. ISO „ 
Maize meal 1 catty .. ..140 „ 
Buckwheat „ .. .. 130 „ 
1000 cash=7 pence=14J cents. 
ous. * The Sing, however, is not mentioned 
in the Chinese classics, y p 
Li denotes plum. The Chinese have 
yet another term for plum. This is j&ftj. Me'i , 
also an ancient name, which occurs often in 
the classics. This character comprises sever- 
al kinds of edible plums and also very hand- 
some ornamental flowers of the genus Pru- 
nus, with uneatable fruits. The /jlBg 
Yii-ye-mei (plum with Elm leaves) is the 
| Ptnnux irichocarpa. its pink flowers appear 
I early in February. Am ther beautiful or- 
namental slirub is the |h2£ Hung-rnei , 
also a Prunus species with precocious flow- 
ers.— But the savoury fruit called 
Yang-mei is furnished by Myrica sapida. 
Sing , as is well known, is the Apricot 
(Prunus armeniaea). This character can 
not he found as the name of a fru t either in 
the Shn-king or in the Shi-king, Cjliou-li &c. 
But the Shan-hai king states, that at the 
hills many Sing trees grow. In addition to 
this the name of the Apricot is represented 
by a peculiar character, which may prove, 
that it is indigenous in China. Our botanists 
assume, that the native country of the Apri- 
cot is the Caucasus and Western Asia. 
T-ao is the Peach, Amygdalus per- 
sica. Decandolle (1. c. 889 ) believes that 
China is the native country of the Peach. 
He may be right. 
* The Pen-t‘sao mentions also a fruit p| 
Pa-tan-sin.y (Pa-tan-Apricot) and gives. the follow- 
ing dege.ripting of it (P. XXIX 10.) This tree 
grows in the Western country of the Mohametans. 
It resembles the Apricot but the leaves are smaller. 
The fruit has little flesh, the stone is like that of 
the plum, the husk is thin, the. kernel is of a sweet 
taste like hazel-nnts. This description suits per- 
fectly with the. almond. As is known, the Almond 
tree grows everywhere in Western Asia. Its Per- 
sian name is badam ancl thus sounding nearly a) 
pat.au, Bunge states (Euimi. plant, Chilian boreallf 
that the" Almond tree is cultivated in Peking, e 
can not confirm this statement. At least 1 havs 
never seen Almond fruits in China. It is known, 
that the Almond tree (Amygdalus communis) as 
regards its flowers and leaves strongly resembles 
the Pencil tree (Amygdalus persica), but the fruits 
are very different. As far as I know the Almond 
tree does not occur in China. What the Europeans 
call Almonds in China are the kernels of tlio 
Apricot tr Sing-jen. 
Therefore the Chi- 
nese compare the Almond tree with the Apricot 
hut not with the Peach. The Peii-ts‘ao gives the 
name [ill Hu-lu-ma as a synonym of 
Pa^tan-sing, hut at the end of the article Wu-lrm- 
tsu (XXXI 21) it is stated, that Hu-lu-ma (the 
name for the dates) is not the same thing as Pa- 
tan-sing. I have adduced these statements, for 
Mr. Sampson lias asserted (Notes and Queries III 
p. 150) that Pa-tan is the seaport Pattern, in India, 
and that Pa-tan-sing is a Chin, synonym for the 
Hate. 
