The ‘Po-ssῠPine Trees’

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Abstract
In four Chinese texts almost certainly written before the middle of the sixth century a.d., of which two have been attributed to the Tsin period (265–420), there were references to two ‘Po-Ssῠpine resins’ to a ‘Po-Ssῠresin’ subsequently likened to ‘pine resin’, and to a resin subsequently attributed to the ‘Po-Ssῠ’ and also likened to ‘pine resin’. They were ‘ju t'ouperfume’, the ‘modrug’, ‘An-hsiperfume’, andlung naoor ‘P'o-lüperfume’.An-hsiperfume became the name for benjamin gum (Styrax benzoinDryander) which, withlung naoor tree camphor (Dryobalanops aromaticaGaertn. f ), were in later times famous trade-products of northern Sumatra. To-dayju, the abbreviated form ofju t'ou, is identified with species ofPistacia(a mastic) or with frankincense (Boswelliaspp.) andmowith myrrh (Commiphoraspp.). These are products of Somaliland, the Middle East, and India. In the sixteenth century, however, and long before then, Chinese herbalists believed thatjuandmoalso came from South East Asia. The text which first mentionedjuin fact ascribed it to the ‘Southern OceanPo-Ssῠ’, a definition indicating a South East Asian origin.

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