148 HISTORICAL NOTES ON 



which latter translation is now adopted by our farmers, absurdly 

 corrupted into mangold wurzel. 



Spuiage (Spinacia oleracea) was unknown to the ancient Greeks 

 and Iloraans, but appears to have been early used by the Arabs, 

 transferred to their gardens from the plains and lower hills of 

 Western Asia, where it is now found wild. The Moors carried it 

 with them into Spain, from whence it gradually spread, in the 

 middle ages, over the rest of Europe. It has now generally 

 replaced the Orache (Atriplex hortensis), a plant also of Eastern 

 origin, but of much earlier introduction, as it appears to have 

 been known to the ancient Greeks under the name of Atraphaons, 

 and to the Romans under that of Atriplex. 



Asparaf/us (A. officinalis), indigenous to Italy, as well as other 

 parts of Europe, is mentioned both by Cato and Pliny as care- 

 fully cultivated, and attaining a considerable thickness in their 

 days, and has ever been a favourite vegetable among the Italians, 

 who grow it to great perfection ; they likewise eat the thin, 

 almost thread-like shoots of the wild plant. 



Among sweet herbs, Basil (Ocimura basilicum) has been much 

 grown, as a condiment or for medicinal purposes, in all hot countries 

 from the very earliest times on record. It is an annual that 

 sows itself so abundantly over the warmer regions of Asia and 

 Africa, that it is impossible to say which may have been its 

 original native country. Numerous varieties are recorded as • 

 produced by cultivation, and some other species are grown in 

 India and Africa, but the common 0. basilicum (which I am now 

 convinced should include the O. miims) is the only botanical 

 species known in Italy, where several varieties are great fovourites 

 in the cottage windows of the lower orders. Sweet Marjoram 

 (Origanum Majorana) was introduced by the ancient Rom.ans 

 from Egypt or Syria, where it is still common in a wild state. 

 Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus), widely spread over South 

 Russia, was brought, probably from the shores of the Black Sea, 

 in more recent times. The first mention on record is by Simon 

 Seth, in the middle of the twelfth century, but it appears to have 

 been scarcely known as a condiment till the sixteenth century. 



Among textile plants. Flax (Linum usitatissimum) was exten- 

 siveljf cultivated and used by the ancient Egyptians, and formed 

 a considerable article of trade between them and the Greeks, 

 who, besides weaving its fibres, were acquainted with the medi- 

 cinal proi^erties of its seeds, which they even mixed with their 

 bread. It was cultivated in Italy by the Etruscan Falisci in the 



