Sino-Iranica - The Search For Mecca

Alfalfa 217
According to the $u i ki *& H Ifi, written by Zen Fan & B# in
the beginning of the sixth century, "the mu-su (alfalfa) gardens of
Can K'ien are situated in what is now Lo-yan; mu-su was originally
a vegetable in the land of the Hu, and K'ien was the first to obtain it
in the Western Countries."
1
A work, Kiu Vi ki ffc %& ffi, says that east
of the capital there were mu-su gardens, in which there were three
pestles driven by water-power.
The Si kin tsa ki 15 M H I2 2
states, "In the Lo-yu gardens M%tM
(in the capital C'ah-nan) there are rose-bushes Jfc $&$$ (Rosa rugosa),
which grow spontaneously. At the foot of these, there is abundance
of mu-su, called also hwaifuh Hi US. ('embracing the wind'), sometimes
kwah fun Jfc $&< ('brilliant wind'). 3 The people of Mou-lin ]3c Wt* style
the plant lien-U ts'ao 3* t£ ^ ('herb with connected branches')." 6
The Lo yah k'ie Ian ki $& 8» f&H III 12, a record of the Buddhist
monasteries in the capital Lo-yan, written by Yan Huan-ci tfk $r 1