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
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i8. The Nan fan tstao mu ëwan C 3 4. f H, the oldest Chinese
work devoted to the botany of southern China, attributed to Ki Han ~, a minister of the Emperor Hwei ,h (A.D. 290-309), contains the following notice: ' —
" The ye-si-min flower and the mo-li f1 flower (Jas-
minum officinale, family Oleaceae) were brought over from western
countries by Hu people A, and have been planted in Kwan-tun
(Nan hai f*1 ). The southerners are fond of their fragrant odor, and therefore cultivate them . . . The mo-li flower resembles the white
variety of ts`ian-mi (Cnidium monnieri), and its odor exceeds that
of the ye-si-min."
In another passage of the same work 2 it is stated that the â 43 flower (Lawsonia alba),3 ye-si-min, and mo-li were introduced by Hu people from the country Ta Ts`in; that is, the Hellenistic Orient. The plant ye-si-min has been identified with Jasminum officinale;
y the plant mo-li, with Jasminum sambac. Both species are now cultivated
in China on account of the fragrancy of the flowers and the oil that they yield.'
The passage of the Nan fan ts`ao mu cwan, first disclosed by BRETSCHNEIDER,s has given rise to various misunderstandings. HIRTH6
_ remarked, "This foreign name, which is now common to all European
languages, is said to be derived from Arabic-Persian jâsamin [read yeismin], and the occurrence of the word in a Chinese record written about A.D. 30o shows that it must have been in early use." WATTERS 7 regarded ydsmin as "one of the earliest Arabian words to be found in Chinese literature." It seems never to have occurred to these authors
' Ch. A, p. 2 (ed. of Han Wei ts`un Su).
2 Ch. B, p. 3.
3 See below, p. 334.
4 The sambac is a favored flower of the Chinese. In Peking there are special gardeners who cultivate it exclusively. Every day in summer, the flower-buds are gathered before sunrise (without branches or leaves) and sold for the purpose of perfuming tea and snuff, and to adorn the head-dress of Chinese ladies. Jasminum officinale is not cultivated in Peking (BRETSCHNEIDER, Chinese Recorder, Vol. III, 1871, p. 225).
6 Chinese Recorder, Vol. III, p. 225.
6 China and the Roman Orient, p. 270.
7 Essays on the Chinese Language, P. 354.
329
JASMINE
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