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0377 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 377 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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IRANO-SINICA-RHUBARB, VARIOUS PLANTS   551

JOHN GERARDE1 illustrates the rhubarb-plant and annotates, "It is brought out of the countrie of Sina (commonly called China) which is towarde the east in the upper part of India, and that India which is without the river Ganges : and not at all Ex Scenitarum provincia, (as many do unadvisedly thinke) which is in Arabia the happie, and far from China," etc. "The best rubarbe is that which is brought from China fresh and newe," etc.

WATT2 gives a Persian term rëvande-hindi (" Indian rhubarb ") for Rheum emodi. Curiously, in Hindustani this is called Hindi-rëvand in (" Chinese rhubarb of India "), and in Bengali Bangla-revan Mini ("Chinese rhubarb of Bengal"), indicating that the Chinese product was preeminently in the minds of the people, and that the Himalayan rhubarbs were only secondary substitutes.

10. Abu Mansura mentions under the Arabic name ratta a fruit called "Indian hazel-nut" (bunduq-i hindi), also Chinese Salsola kali. It is the size of a small plum, contains a small blackish stone, and is brought from China. It is useful in chronic diseases and in cases of poisoning, and is hot and dry in the second degree. This is Sap-indus

mukorossi, in Chinese wu (or mu)-hwan-tse(or *)   (with a
number of synonymes), the seeds being roasted and eaten.

I1. Arabic suk, a drug composed of several ingredients, according to Ibn Sina, was originally a secret Chinese remedy formed with amlaj (Sanskrit âmalaka, Phyllanthus emblica, the emblic myrobalan) .4 It is the V Ft It4 an-mo-lo, *an-mwa-lak, of the Chinese.' In Persian it is amala or amula.

  1.  Persian gulf xaird (xairû) is explained as Chinese and Persian

hollyhock (Althcea rosea).6 This is the . u k`wei l   ("mallow of Se-
6`wan") of the Chinese, also called &un ktwei ("mallow of the Zun"). It is the common hollyhock, which STUART' thinks may have been originally introduced into China from some western country.

  1.  Ibn al-Baitar8 speaks of a "rose of China" (ward sini), usually called nisrin. According to Leclerc, this is a malvaceous plant. In

Persian we find   ("rose of China"), the identification of which,

I The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, p. 317 (London, 1597).

2 Dictionary, Vol. VI, p. 486. ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 74. a E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 215.

Pen ts'ao lean mu, Ch. 3o, p. 5 b; Fan yi min yi tsi, Ch. 8, p. I. STUART (Chinese Materia Medics., p. 421) wrongly identifies the name with Spondias amara.

G STEINGASS, Persian Dictionary, p. 1092. 7 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 33.

s LECLERC, Traité des simples, Vol. II_T., pp. 369, 409.