INTO THE FLORA OF CHINA., 5 
and died in Maeao in 1658.*) As lie himself states in the 
preface to his RELATIONE BELLA CrRANEE 
MONARCH!A BELLA COTA ? he wrote this work 
about 1633, but it was first published only in 1643, in Rome. 
I quote in the following the French translation of it made by 
Coulon 1645, but translate the quoted passages into English. 
The following are the remarks of Semedo concerning Chinese 
plants : 
1. The Reaches of the province of Xensi (Shensi) are of 
prodigious size, some of them of a red color outside as well as 
inside, others yellow and resembling our peaches. The same 
province is also famed for its Grapes*, (p. 8.) 
2. The province of Honan produces the best ApricOfSa 
(p.22.) 
3. The prov. of Xan tung (Shan tung) abounds in large and 
excellent IPears (p. 29.) 
These large pears are already mentioned by Marco Polo (Yule ed. 2 
II 184. 
4. There is a kind of fruit grown everywhere in China, 
which they call su zu in their language. The Portuguese use 
to term it red Fig. It bears however no resemblance to a fig, 
for it is of a red color outside, contains a gold-colored pulp and 
seeds resembling almond kernels. Its shape is that of an 
orange but it varies in size. It has the skin very soft and is of 
a delicious flavour. The best are grown in the colder parts of 
Chinas viz. in the provinces of Plonan, Xensi (Shensi), Xian si 
(Shan si), Xan tung (Shan tung) and especially in the last 
named, where they use to dry them and send them off to the 
other provinces of the Empire. When dried this fruit 
resembles somewhat our figs, but it is superior in flavor, 
(P . 7.) 
This is without doubt the Diospyros Kaki L. (D. Schitze. Bge.) a very 
common frijit tree all over China, where a great many Varieties of it 
are cultivated. The Chinese name of the fruit is shi tsz *, in the 
Amoy dialect su tsu. 
5. The Jesuit Father Ferraris in his .Hesjperides (publ. in 
1646) p. 430, describes an Aurantium sinense olivae magnitu* 
dine jignr ague olivae , referring to Semedo. This is probably 
Citrus japonica Thb., var. fructu elliptico, of which Semedo 
seems to have communicated some account to Ferraris. 
# The biographical notices given in this paper concerning the Jesuit 
missionaries, are for the greater part derived from the pamphlet 
published in 1872 by the Jesuits at Shanghai under the title of: 
Catalogut Patrum ac Frattum e Soc. Jesn qui in Sinis adlaboraverunt. 
