32 



PROCEEDINGS OE THE 



No botanical author previous to this century ever refers to it 

 as growino' in the northern hemisphere. The first to allude to 

 it is Father Y. C. Giacinto, who mentions the plant as being 

 cultivated in the Botanic Garden at Valletta, Malta, in the year 

 1806. The title of his work is ' Index Plantarum Horti Botanici 

 Melitensis, anno 1806. — P. P. Carolus Hyacinthus'*. 



The next in date to allude to it is Prof. Viviani, who records 

 it as oTowing in North Africa, viz. : " in pratis Cyrenaicse," in 

 1824, and named it 0. lihyca. 



A. De CandoUe says, on the authority of Kelaart {Fl. Calp. 

 1846), that it was introduced into Gibraltar in 1826 (' Geographie 

 Botanique,' ii. p. 724) : A. P. de Candolle makes no mention of 

 it in his Essai elementaire de Geog. Bot., in Diet, des Sc. Nat. 

 vol. xviii. (1820), as occurring in S. Europe. 



The next to notice it is Prof. Ch. Stephanus Zerapha, a con- 

 temporary of Giacinto's in Malta, who published his 'Florae 

 Melitensis Thesaurus ' in 1827. 



It appears to have probably arrived in Egypt about that time, 

 as Youssouf Effendy is known to have introduced the Mandarine 

 orange from Malta about 1820. It only occurs, at the present 

 time, in the orange-gardens of Cairo and Esneh. 



The above facts would seem to hint at the probability of Malta 

 havino- been the original source of its diftusion ; and the follow- 

 ing facts will, I think, establish it. 



"We have it on the authority of Zerapha that his contemporary, 

 Dr. Giacinto, brought the individual plant from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, which is spoken of as having been cultivated in 

 Malta in 1806, for the information of his pupils ; and Maltese 

 botanists of a later date attribute the spread of it over the island, 

 at least, to this source. Thus J. C. Grech Delicata says of 

 Oxalis cernua,the " Haxixa ta I'Englisi," or the " English weed," 

 as the Maltese now call it, in his ' Flora Melitensis,' p. 8 (1853) : — 

 " In campis et agris ubique. Indigena facta ab anno 1811." 



That the subsequent general diffusion has had its origin in 

 Malta appears to be satisfactorily proved by the structure of the 

 plant itself. This species of Oxalis is naturally trimorphic at 

 the Cape, as dried specimens in the Kew Herbarium and that of 

 the Natural History Museum fully testify, examples of all 

 three forms, as well as of half-ripe fruiting plants, being pre- 

 served. On the other hand, it has never been known to bear 

 fruit in the northern hemisphere ; the flowers, with their pedicels, 

 after expansion disarticulate, leaving scars on the peduncle. 

 Moreover, the short-styled form is the only one described as 

 occurring anywhere around the Mediterranean. This is certainly 

 the only one in Malta, as I can myself testify from numerous 

 examinations of plants from all parts of the island. 



* A copy of this work is in the public library at Valletta ; and I take this 

 opportunity of thanking Dr. A. Oaruana Gratto for kindly making researches for 

 me among the publications therein contained. 



