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Kabul the Trifolium giganteum is called sibarga, and Medicago sativa is styled ri§ka, is unsatisfactory. The word sibarga means "trefoil" (si, "three;" baraa = Persian barak, varak, "leaf "), and is Iranian, not Sanskrit; the corresponding Sanskrit word is tripatra or tri parna. The word ri§ka is Afghan; that is, likewise Iranian.' Considering the fact that nothing is known about the plant in question in early Indian sources, it is highly improbable that it should figure in a Buddhist Sutra of the type of the Suvarnaprabhasa; and I think that Li Si-ben is mistaken as to the meaning of the word, which he says he encountered there.
The above transcription occurs also in the Fan yi min yi tsi (section 27) and answers to Sanskrit çâka-vrika, the word Oka denoting any eatable herb or vegetable, and vrika (or baka) referring to a certain plant not yet identified (cf. the analogous formation Oka-bilva, "eggplant"). It is not known what herb is to be understood by Oka-vrika, and the Chinese translation mu-su may be merely a makeshift, though it is not impossible that the Sanskrit compound refers to some species of Medicago. We must not lose sight of the fact that the equations established in the Chinese-Sanskrit dictionaries are for the greater part merely bookish or lexicographical, and do not relate to plant introductions. The Buddhist translators were merely anxious to find a suitable equivalent for an Indian term. This process is radically different from the plant-names introduced together with the plants from Iranian, Indian, or Southeast-Asiatic regions: here we face living realities, there we have to do with literary productions. Two other examples may suffice. The Fan yi min yi tsi (section 24) offers a Sanskrit botani-
cal name in the form cen=t`ou-kia, anciently *tsin(tin)-du-k'ie,
answering to Sanskrit tinduka (Diospyros embryopteris), a dense evergreen small tree common throughout India and Burma. The Chinese gloss explains the Indian word by .i ta , which is the well-known Diospyros kaki of China and Japan, not, however, found in ancient India; it was but recently introduced into the Botanical Garden of Calcutta by Col. Kyd, and the Chinese gardeners employed there call it cin ("Chinese ").2 In this case it signifies only the Diospyros embryopteris of India. Under the heading kan-sun hian (see p. 455) , which denotes the spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi), Li Si-ben gives a Sanskrit term Ai litl k`u-mi-re, *ku-mi-6i, likewise taken from the Suvarnaprabhasasutra; this corresponds to Sanskrit kunci or kuncika, which applies to three different plants,— 1. Abrus precatorius, 2. Nigella indica,
1 There are, further, in Afghan sebist (connected with Persian supust) and dureSta.
2 W. ROXBURGH, Flora Indica, p. 412.
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