The Memoirs of Bābur 932.12.6

932.12.6

In Hindūstān there is great variety of flowers. One is the (D.) _jāsūn_ (_Hibiscus rosa sinensis_), which some Hindūstānīs call (Hindī) _gaẕhal_.[1889] *It is not a grass (_giyāh_); its tree (is in stems like the bush of the red-rose; it) is rather taller than the bush of the red-rose.[1890]* The flower of the _jāsūn_ is fuller in colour than that of the pomegranate, and may be of the size of the red-rose, but, the red-rose, when its bud has grown, opens simply, whereas, when the _jāsūn_-bud opens, a stem on which other petals grow, is seen like a heart amongst its expanded petals. Though the two are parts of the one flower, yet the outcome of the lengthening and thinning of that stem-like heart of the first-opened petals gives the semblance of two flowers.[1891] It is not a common matter. The beautifully coloured flowers look very well on the tree, but they do not last long; they fade in just one day. The _jāsūn_ blossoms very well through the four months of the rains; it seems indeed to flower all through the year; with this profusion, however, it gives no perfume.