IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
292 SING-IRANICA
San-tan (south-eastern portion of San-si), and is gathered in the
autumn. What is called ts`in .6a4 W are the sprouts of the kü-.§en.
They grow in the river-valleys of Cun-yüan ill (Ho-nan) ." Nothing
is said here about a foreign introduction or a cultivation; on the contrary, the question evidently is of an indigenous wild swamp-plant, possibly Mulgedium sibiriacum.' Both Sesamum and Linum are thoroughly out of the question, for they grow in dry loam, and sesame especially in sandy soil. Thus suspicion is ripe that the terms hu ma and kü-den originally applied to an autochthonous plant of San-si and Ho-nan, and that hu ma in this case moves on the same line as the term hu §en in the Li sao (p. 195). This suspicion is increased by the fact that hu ma occurs in a passage ascribed to Hwai-nan-tse, who died in 122 B.C., and cited in the T `ai p`in yü lan.2 Moreover, the Wu .i (or p `u) pen is `ao, written in the first half of the third century by Wu P `u
in describing hu ma, alludes to the mythical Emperor Sen-nun and to Lei kun n, a sage employed by the Emperor Hwan in his efforts to perfect the art of healing.
The meaning of kü-.den is "the great superior one." The later authors regard the term as a variety of Sesamum, but give varying definitions of it: thus, T`ao Hun-kin states that the kind with a square stem is called kü-§en (possibly Mulgedium), that with a round stem hu ma. Su Kun of the Tang says that the plant with capsules (kio 11) of eight ridges or angles (pa lei!. A It) is called kü-.en; that with quadrangular capsules, hu ma. The latter definition would refer to Sesamum indicum, the capsule of which is oblong quadrangular, two-valved and two-celled, each cell containing numerous oily seeds.
Mon Sens , in his , i liao pen t'sao (written in the second half of the seventh century), observes that "the plants cultivated in fertile soil produce octangular capsules, while those planted in mountainous fields have the capsules quadrangular, the distinction arising from the difference of soil conditions, whereas the virtues of the two varieties are
identical. Again, Lei Hiao VAC of the fifth century asserts that
kü-.en is genuine, when it has seven ridges or angles, a red color, and a sour taste, but that it is erroneous to style hu ma the octangular capsules with two pointed ends, black in color, and furnishing a black oil. There is no doubt that in these varying descriptions entirely different plants are visualized. Kao C`en of the Sung, in his i wu ki yüan,3
1 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 269. This identification, however, is uncertain.
2 Ch. 989, p. 6 b.
3 Ch. to, p. 29 b (see above, p. 279).
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