Mr. Roye on the Lycium of Dioscorides. 85 
barie, vol. i. p. 162, quotes Rauwolf and Hasselquist as authorities for consi- 
dering Lycium europeum as the Xvxio» of Dioscorides, though he alludes to the 
opinion of Prosper Alpinus, that Berberis cretica was the plant, but that he had 
not obtained any of the juice from it. In the same work, at page 191, Sprengel, 
in conformity with the opinion of Garcias ab Orto, gives Acacia Catechu as 
. the plant yielding the Avzsov nxor of Dioscorides. 
From the above references it is evident that the subject does not appear to 
have been so satisfactorily settled as to render further investigation unneces- 
sary; but it is expedient, before proceeding in our inquiry, to refer to the au- 
thors who have treated expressly on the subject. 
In Matthiolus’s Commentaries on Dioscorides, (edition of 1698, by Caspar 
Bauhin,) figures of three plants are given, which he thinks may be those 
yielding Lycium. "The first, called simply Lycium, appears to be Rhamnus 
catharticus; the second, called Lycium italicum, may be Rhamnus infectorius ; 
and the third is Buxus sempervirens. 
Garcias ab Orto in Clusii Exot. lib. i. cap. 10. p. 163., after describing the 
mode of making Catechu from the wood of Acacia Catechu, which, he says, is 
called Hacchic, adds: “Nunc superest, fuerit ne Cate veteribus cognitum, 
examineremus. Ego si mihi dicere licet quod sentio, omninó existimo nos- 
trum hoc Cate nihil aliud esse, quàm Grecorum et Latinorum Lycium. Nam 
ejus extrahendi ratio ab omnibus eadem describitur, iisdemque facultatibus 
pollere censetur quibus nostrum Cate. Huc, adde, quód Indicum Lycium præ- 
fertur cum à Dioscoride, Plinio, tum à Galeno. Vocatum autem est à Grecis 
Lycium, quoniam in Lycia primüm inter Grecos illius usus repertus sit, opti- 
mumque istic nasci eo tempore censerent. Præfertur etiam Indicum Avicennze 
et Serapioni, qui id Hadhadh appellant, easdemque illi facultates tribuunt, quas 
Greci et Latini. Avicenna vult in ejus penuria Arecam et Santalum substitui." 
To this Clusius adds, * Dioscoridi Lycium folia Buxi habet, et pusilla est arbor. 
Itaque longè alia censenda est quàm ea qué nostro auctori describitur." I do 
not think that this would be considered an insuperable objection, as it is not to 
be supposed that Dioscorides ever saw the plant affording the Indian Lycium ; 
indeed, he expressly says, “it is related, that a plant with leaves like the olive, 
&c., yields the Indian Lycium." From the foregoing extract it appears that 
Garcias ab Orto considered Catechu to be Lycium, because both are similarly 
