301 



A NOTE ON BORAGE. 

 By H. F. Hange, Ph.D., F.L.S., &c. 



It seems very uncertain whether Borage was Imown to the 

 Greek and Roman classical writers ; for the ^ovyT^ua-aov of Diosco- 

 rides, which Sprengel referred to it," is ascribed by both Biller- 

 beck \ and Fraas, | notwithstanding that the Greek physician 

 attributes to it, when infused in wine, the property of raising the 

 spirits, § to either Anclnisa italica, Retz., or ^. officinalis, Linn., the 

 Romaic name of the former being ^ov^oyXucra-oc. And, when Lindley 

 quotes Pliny, |] as saying that wine with Borage infused in it cheers 

 the spirits, he is evidently referring to the BvgJossos of that author, T 

 the name, description and i:)roperties ascribed to which prove its 

 identity with the plant of Dioscorides. Nor is there any herb 

 mentioned by either Theophrastos, Theocritos, or Virgil"''' which 

 has been taken for Borage. 



Si^rengel su^Dposed f f that he recognised Borage in the Borith \ \ 

 of St. Hildegard, abbess of Bingen (nat. 1098, ob. 1180), but Dr. 

 Reuss thinks the name more likely refers to Saponaria officinalis, 

 Linn. §§ 



Though now frequent in many parts of Europe (in Hispania 

 australi abundat, writes Willkomm |j|j), the soundest authorities 

 regard Borage as an alien. UII It is, I think, doubtful whether it 



* ' Hist. Eei Herb.' i. 160. 



t ' Fl. Class.' 39. Csesalpinus also refers it to Ancliusa italica (' De Plant, 

 lib. xi. c. 2 & 3). 



X ' Synops. Fl. Class.' 162. Bocquillon remarks of both species, "E'les sont 

 employees comma la Bourrache officinale" (' Man. d'Hist. Nat. Med.' 1104). 



§ (• Mat. Med.' lib. iv. c. 128 (opera ed. Saracenus, p. 290; Francof. 1598). 



II Loudon, ' Encycl. Plants,' 123. • 



^ ' Hist. Nat.' xxiv. 8, 40. 



"** For the first-named author, I rely on the determinations of Sprengel and 

 Fraas, brought together in the index appended to Wimmer's edition, prepared 

 for Didot's • Bibliotheca Gra^ca' ; for the second, to the copious indices to Theo- 

 phrastos, Oppian, Nicandros, &c., together with their scholiasts, compiled ibrthe 

 same series by Bussemaker ; whilst, for the third, I have carefully examined the 



• Flora Virgiliana ' of Eetzius, the ' Flore et Faune de Yirgile' of Paulet, Du- 

 molin's ' Flore Poetique Ancienne,' and Bubani's ' Flora Virgiliana.' 



ft Op. cit. i. 226. 



l\ This word is Hebrew, and occurs in the Old Testament (Jerem. ii. 22; 

 Malachi iii. 2). RosenmuUer 'Miner, and Bot. of Bible,' 112) refers it to Salsola 

 Kali, Linn. ; whilst the Vulgate renders it by the words •' herba borith," and the 

 English version by " soap." This latter translation is upheld by the Rev. W. L. 

 Bevan (Smith's Diet, of Bible,' iii. 1337), and by Dr. Tristram ('Nat. Hist. Bible,' 

 2nd ed., 480). 



§§ Analecta ad antiq. fl. germ., appended to his edition of the Hortulus of 

 Walafridus Strabo, p. 77 (Wirceburgi, 1834). 



nil ' Prodr. Fl. Hispan.' ii. 492. 

 •^^1 " In hortis colitur, ibique et in ruderatis atque hortornm reject amentis 

 quasi sponte provenit " (Koch, ' Syn. Fl. Germ.' ed. 3, ii. 432). " Alien" (Watson, 



• Gybele Brit.' ii. 280). " Naturalise dans toute la France " (Gren. & Godr., 



