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
SAFFRON AND TURMERIC 313
"ginger-yellow"), C. pallida, C. petiolata, C. zedoaria. Which particular species was anciently known in China, is difficult to decide; but it appears that at least one species was utilized in times of antiquity. Curcuma longa and C. leucorrhiza are described not earlier than the Tang period, and the probability is that either they were introduced from the West; or, if on good botanical evidence it can be demonstrated that these species are autochthonous,' we are compelled to assume that superior cultivated varieties were imported in the Tang era. In regard to yü-kin (C. leucorrhiza), Su Kun of the seventh century observes that it grows in Su (Se-'`wan) and Si-iun, and that the Hu call it
ma-su, *mo-diut (dzut),2 while he states with reference to kian-
hwan (C. longa) that the Luh 3 G A call it hu, *d ut (dzut, dzur) ;
he also insists on the close resemblance of the two species. Likewise C`en Ts`an-k`i, who wrote in the first part of the eighth century, states concerning kian-hwan that the kind coming from the Western Barbarians (Si Fan) is similar to yü-kin and §u yao C41.3 Su Sun of the Sung remarks that yü-kin now occurs in all districts of Kwan-tun and Kwan-si, but does not equal that of Se-è`wan, where it had previously existed. K`ou Tsun-si s states that yü-kin is not aromatic, and that in his time it was used for the dyeing of woman's clothes. Li Si-ben reminds us of the fact that yü-kin was a product of the Hellenistic Orient (Ta Ts'in): this is stated in the Wei lio of the third century,' and the Liars Sub enumerates yü-kin among the articles traded from Ta Ts'in to western India.?
The preceding observations, in connection with the foreign names
1 According to LOUREIRO (Flora Cochin-Chinensis, p. 9), Curcuma longa grows wild in Indo-China.
2 This foreign name has not been pointed out by Bretschneider or Stuart or any previous author.
8 This term is referred (whether correctly, I do not know) to Kœmpferia pundurata (STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 227). Another name for this
plant is s p`un-no Su (not mou), *bun-na. Now, Ta Min states that the
j Curcuma growing on Hai-nan is r; ; p'un-no Su, while that growing in Kiafn-nan
is kian-hwan (Curcuma longa). Kæmpferia belongs to the same order as Curcuma, —Scitamineae. According to Ma t i of the Sung, this plant grows in Si-zun and in all districts of Kwan-nan; it is poisonous, and the people of the West first test it on sheep: if these refuse to eat it, it is discarded. Chinese p`un-no, *bun-na, looks like a transcription of Tibetan bon-na, which, however, applies to aconite.
4 Pen ts`ao yen i, Ch. 1o, p. 3. 6 San kwo ci, Ch. 3o, p. 13.
6 Ch. 78, p. 7.
7 The question whether in this case Curcuma or Crocus is meant, cannot be
decided; both products were known in western Asia. ten Ts`an-k`i holds that the
yü-kin of Ta Ts'in was safflower (see below).
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