Xi Han's 嵇含 (304)	Chapters of the Nanfang caomu zhuang
	Exemplarious translation: 南越交趾植物有四裔最為奇．周秦以前無稱焉．自漢武帝開拓封彊搜來珍異．取其尤者，充貢中州之人．或未〔昩〕其狀，乃以所聞詮敘有禆子弟云爾． 甘蕉，望之若樹株，大者一圍餘葉．長一丈，或七八尺，廣尺餘二尺．許花大如酒杯形，色如芙蓉．著莖末百餘子，大名為房，相連系．甜美亦可蜜，藏根如芋．魁大者如車轂，實隨華．每花一闔，各有六子．先後相次，子不俱生花，不俱落．一名芭蕉，或曰芭苴．剝其子上皮，色黃白，味似蒲萄甜，而脆亦療飢．此有三種子：大汝母指長而銳．有類羊角，名羊角蕉，味最甘好．一種子大如雞卵．有類牛乳，名牛乳蕉，味微減羊角．一種大如藕，子長六七寸，形正方，少甘最下也． 其莖解散如絲，以灰練之可紡績為絺綌，謂之焦葛．雖脆而好黃白，不如葛赤色也． 交廣俱有之三．輔黃圖曰：漢武帝元鼎六年，破南越，建扶荔宮以植所得奇草異木，有甘蕉二本． The plants that can be found in the commandery of Jiaozhi in Southern Yue (north of modern Vietnam), are the most remarkable of all four border regions. During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, nobody would have known how to call these plants. After Emperor Han Wudi (r. 140-86 BC) had "opened" these territories, people searched and collected remarkable and strange things, and presented them to the central region of China. Because there is still no description of these things, I will try to depict the objects I heard of from, to benefit our sons and brothers: The sweet banana (ganjiao) looks like a tree trunk, the greatest of the leaf sheaths surrounds this trunk; the other leaves are 1 zhang ("cord") long, or 6 to 8 chi ("spreads"), and 1.5 to 2 chi broad. The inflorescence is big like a wine cup and resembles a lotus flower in color and appearance. At the end of the inflorescence stalk are more than a hundred flowers, the great ones can be called "house", clustered in rows, filled with sweet nectar. The hidden rhizomes resemble a taro. The biggest (fruit bunches or rhizome clusters?) are huge like a chart wheel. The whole inflorescence does not open all flowers at the same time: the fruits follow the blossoms (from down to top), while each (clustered) flower encloses six small blossoms (in two rows). Equally, the petals or bracts do not fall down at the same time. The plant is also called or written bajiao or baju. Plucking the fruits, you peel them and can find a white-yellow flesh inside, sweet and crispy like grapes, and equally able to appease hunger. There exist three different kinds of bananas: The first kind is as long as a thumb and peaked, called "goat horn banana" (yangjiaojiao). This kind of banana has the sweetest taste of all. The second kind has the shape of an egg and is called "cow milk banana" (niurujiao). It tastes less sweet than the "goat horn". The third kind is big as a lotus root and 6 to 7 chi ("inches") long. It shape is straight, and the taste is the worst of these three. The leaf-sheaths consist of many fibers that can be used to be spinned and interwoven to clothes like hemp or linen. This material is called "banana dolichos" (jiaoge; the fibers of dolichos can be used to weave clothes). Although being crispy and yellow-white, the banana does not have (the same properties) like the reddish dolichos. These banana trees grow everywhere in the areas of Guangzhou and Jiaozhou (southern China and northern Vietnam). The SanFuMaps of the Yellow Emperor (Sanfu Huangtu) say: In the year 111 BC (Yuanding 6), when Emperor Han Wudi could smash the Southern Yue tribes, he erected the Fuli Palace and had planted the foreign herbs and strange trees he had obtained, among them two sweet banana trees. Translated by Ulrich Theobald.