86 Mr. RovrE on the Lycium of Dioscorides. 
made, both possess nearly similar properties, and both are Indian products, 
and because the Indian Lycium was always preferred by ancient practitioners. 
But I have never seen in any of the Persian works on Materia Medica, which 
are derived from the Arabic, the name Hadhadh, or Hacchic, applied to Ca- 
techu, though, as will afterwards abundantly appear, it is to Lycium. Rau- 
wolf, in his Itinerary, p. 485, mentions Lycium as “a plant with small branches, . 
which still retains its name among our apothecaries, called by King David, in 
the 58th Psalm, by its Hebrew name Hadhadh, by which it is still known 
among the Arabs, the two languages being nearly related." The plant figured 
is by Sprengel called Lycium europeum; it may be à species of Rhamnus. 
Prosper Alpinus, in his work De Plantis ZEgypti, lib.i. cap. xi. & xii., describes 
and figures two plants, which he supposes may be the Lycium of Dioscorides ; 
the first, he says, is called 4gihalid, though a tree, but has leaves like Box, and 
is used in medicine. This is said by Sprengel (vol. i. p. 383.) to be the Rhamnus 
divaricatus of Forskól, though I do not find this enumerated among either the 
species or synonyms of Rhamnus. The plant represented is known to be Ba- 
lanites egyptiaca, the Ximenia egyptiaca of Linnzus. The second plant, which 
he considers may be Lycium, is called Uzez, and is referred to Lycium euro- 
peum by Sprengel. Both of these plants are supposed by Prosper Alpinus, 
without, however, his adducing any proofs, to be the Lycium of Dioscorides. 
Hasselquist found Lycium europeum in Egypt beyond Cairo, near the banks 
of the Nile. It is common in hedges in Greece, and was identified by Dr. Sib- 
thorp as being the paves of Dioscorides, as it still retains the same name. 
Prosper Alpinus, in his subsequent work, De Plantis Exoticis, referring to his 
former opinions, gives a description and figure of Berberis cretica, which he 
considers to be the true Lycium of Dioscorides. This he describes as “ spinis 
horrens, foliis buxi, baccze oblongee, nigrescentes, piperis magnitudine et rotun- 
ditate, sapore stiptico, primó subdulci, post amarescente ;" adding, “ quod per- 
tinet ad istius plantae facultates, atque ad usus medicos proculdubio habebit 
et hzc planta easdem, et vires et usus quos antiqui de Lycio tradiderunt ;" 
but that he is ignorant whether any extract like Lycium is obtained from the 
roots or branches of this plant. Sir James E. Smith, in the Flora Greca, 
tab. 342., under Berberis cretica, (Cretan or Box-leaved Barberry,) quotes this 
synonym of Alpinus as well as that of Pona, who calls it * Licio di Candia,” 
