140 HISTORICAL NOTES ON 



rosum), is well known. Although mentioned occasionally by 

 American explorers of the 16th century (by some confounded 

 with the siveet potato, a convolvulaceous plant)^ it was not other- 

 wise known in Europe till brought to England by Sir Walter 

 Raleigh in 1586. Two years afterwards, Clusius at Vienna 

 obtained two tubers through the Prefect of Mons, in Belgium, 

 from a servant of the Pontifical Nuntiate in the Low Countries. 

 It may have been transmitted to Italy at about the same time 

 from tlie same source. At any rate, it was certainly in cultivation 

 in Tuscany at the commencement of the 17th century, for 

 Father Magazzini of Valombrosa, in a work on Tuscan agriculture, 

 published in 16-23, after his death, gives directions as to its 

 cultivation, which he alludes to as being then habitual, having 

 been introduced from Spain and Portugal by the barefooted 

 Carmelite monks. 



Professor Targioni, led into error by the insertion of the 

 Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum), in the first floras of Cochin- 

 China and Amboyna, considers it as a native of India, as well as of 

 Peru, and e.x.presses, therefore, some surprise that it should have 

 been unknown to the ancients. But, if ever found wild in the 

 Eastern Archipelago, it is only as spread from cultivation, for it 

 is now ascertained to be exclusively of Peruvian origin, and was 

 not known in Europe until after the discovery of America. It 

 appears, however, to have preceded the more useful maize and 

 potato, for Matthioli mentions its introduction in his days, that 

 is, in the commencement of the 16th century. It was first 

 cultivated rather for ornament than for food, which may, perhaps, 

 explain its more rapid introduction. 



The Mehutzane or Petonciani (Solanum Melongena, Aubergine 

 of the French, the Egg-plant "'' or Bringall of the West Indies) 

 is most probably a native of Asia or Africa, altliough the precise 

 original indigenous form has not as yet been satisfactorily made 

 out. Many of the supposed botanical species of the most recent 

 monographist are mere cultivated varieties, and their connection 

 with allied forms stated to be wild in India or in America 

 requires much critical investigation. Its cultivation in Italy can- 

 not have been extensive before the discovery of America. It is 

 indeed generally supposed to be referred to by Theophrastus 



* This name is generally given in our gardens to the short white-fruited 

 variety which we grow merely as an object of curiosity. It is the long 

 purple-fruited variety that is so much cultivated iu the South as an article 

 of food. 



