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0143 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 143 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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SAFFRON AND TURMERIC   317

and Jaguda (Z.bulist.n) it was observed by the famous pilgrim Haan Tsars in the seventh century.' The Buddhist traveller Yi Tsin (67I-695) attributes it to northern India.2

The earliest description of the plant is preserved in the Nan &ou i wu ci, written by Wan Cen in the third century A.D.,3 who says, "The habitat of yü-kin is in the country Ki-pin (Kashmir), where it is cultivated by men, first of all, for the purpose of being offered to the Buddha. After a few days the flower fades away, and then it is utilized on account of its color, which is uniformly yellow. It resembles the fu-yurt (Hibiscus) and a young lotus (Nelumbium speciosum), and can render wine aromatic." This characteristic is fairly correct, and unequivocally applies to the Crocus, which indeed has the appearance of a liliaceous plant, and therefore belongs to the family Irideae and to the order Liliiflorae. The observation in regard to the short duration of the flowers is to the point.'

In A.D. 647 the country Kia-p`i IhU fit in India offered to the Court yü-kin hian, which is described on this occasion as follows: "Its leaves

are like those of the mai-men-tun   E J   (0 phio pogon s picatus) . It
blooms in the ninth month. In appearance it is similar to fu-yun

(Hibiscus mutabilis) . It is purple-blue , ,   in color. Its odor may be
perceived at a distance of several tens of paces. It flowers, but does not bear fruit. In order to propagate it, the root must be taken."5

1 S. JULIEN, Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales, Vol. I, pp. 4o, 131; Vol. II, p. 187 (story of the Saffron-Stupa, ibid., Vol. I, p. 474; or S. BEAL, Buddhist Records, Vol. II, p. 125); W. W. ROCKHILL, Life of the Buddha, p. 169; S. 'ANTI, Journal asiatique, 1915, I, pp. 83-85.

2 TAKAKUSU'S translation, p. 128; he adds erroneously, "species of Curcuma."

s Pen ts'ao lean mu, Ch. 14, p. 22.

Compare Pliny's (xxi, 17, §34) description of Crocus: "Floret vergiliarum occasu paucis diebus folioque florem expellit. Viret bruma et colligitur; siccatur umbra, melius etiam hiberna."

6 T'an hui yao, Ch. 200, pp. 14 a-b. This text was adopted by the Pen ts'ao kan mu (Ch. 14, p. 22), which quotes it from the T'ang Annals. Li i-Cen comments that this description agrees with that of the Nan cou i wu ci, except in the colors of the flower, which may be explained by assuming that there are several varieties; in this he is quite correct. The flower, indeed, occurs in a great variation of colors,—purple, yellow, white, and others. W. WOODVILLE (Medical Botany, Vol. IV, p. 763) gives the following description of Crocus: "The root is bulbous, perennial: the flower appears after the leaves, rising very little above the ground upon a slender succulent tube: the leaves rise higher than the flower, are linear, simple, radical, of a rich green colour, with a white line running in the centre, and all at the base inclosed along with the tube of the flower in a membranous sheath. The flower is large, of a bluish purple, or lilac colour: the corolla consists of six petals, which are nearly elliptical, equal, and turned inwards at the edges. The filaments are three, short, tapering, and support long erect yellow antherae. The germen is roundish, from