30S 
attempt at describing an article like <r X oiwc. In fact, the only 
reference to it which contains a descriptive element is in 
Dioscorides* where he gives instructions for the selection of the 
material :— it is to he fresh, reddish (Jinriippov), many-flowered, 
purplish and whitish when split apart (i.e., when the leaf-bases, 
which are purplish and white, are pulled apart), to emit an odour 
like roses when rubbed in the hand, and to have a hot, pungent 
taste. The use of the drug continued in the West after the 
downfall of the Roman Empire, although apparently only for 
medicinal purposes, through the Middle Ages and even into the 
L8th century, when it gradually became obsolete. We find it in 
ih " I M " acriptions oi A< Ins I t50 A.D.), and in the writings of the 
School of Salerno. Here the name 'palea camelorum' may have 
originated. At least it is attributed to Maithaeus riaiearius 
(about the middle of the 12th century) in the various editions of 
the Ortus Sam tatis,f although it may, of course, be much older, 
as (ialeuas had already connected the ' Schoenanthus ' with the 
camel, fu the Ortus Sanitatis we also find the first figure 
intended to represent the 'Schoenanthus' ov'Squinanthus: as it is 
V; .'J",'' v - h 1 > s, » l """\< "de.nalised as to be unrecognisable. From 
Jirunrels; (lo36 A.D.), onward it is a standing article in all the 
h, ' r,,;lls ot ''"' l»'th and 17th .■enturies, and is the subject of some- 
times elaborate discussions in the commentaries on Dioscorides, 
I linuis, and rheophrastus. It was very f'tv.memlv figured in those 
works, the figures being drawn from the mostly barren leaf -tufts 
as they reached Europe. Sometimes inflorescences more or 
less convenhona lisecl were added. One of the earliest of those 
figures by I*bel§ (15?6 A.D.), is among the best. A very good 
FiS " f.oo 6 drU ? WaS given ^ Joh - B <™ hi » (1658 A.D.).|| 
V1 ' ; '• J 11 . 1 we have Plukenem description and figure, 
v>hieh I have mentioned on p. 303. Both are indifferent; 
but they are supported by Plukenet's original specimen which 
JhTfJSS :,r the British Museum, and is 
r>u th£ iS ^enanthus' of the old herbalists. On this, and 
V """-.. hnmaeuP based the 'Lagurus' of his Materia 
^^4-1 l n ******* so ~the backbone of the Awfm- 
Snnf % IT" l Z S f ^ e ' S i ,ecies Plantarum.' To finish my 
T. w , Herha Schoenanthi; I now turn once more to 
•; - } U n have seen that the Nal it.ean .?,■/<„, , mthus was, in 
i Dioscorides and Plinius, „!„,,. valued than any other, 
Mk , ,' .,■; .";■ l"»^tedo U t that it was called Nabataean more 
,1,,,,,; \ " aea than on account of its growing 
;„,,„,■, ;,,', ,.,,,' y' 1 '' ''. '.'"'' wuh . this < [t is interesting to note that 
>. pi '] ' mm 1 I Qntewai's " Book of Nabataean Agriculture " 
valerates Mdshir' (Izkhii. the Arabic name of 
,„ . ,'," ' ■ j! ;l;;«g), but with the epithets 'Babylonian' 
Ion Alavswatn. '•?),. '• Meyer quotes from 
_ e A g"cultura, who in turn quotes largely 
* Dioscorides, l.c, p 31 
<> Lobelias. Saiq . Hi- ,,--.-■ .?■>' p - lw - 
«T Bauhinus, Theal 
Meyer, Gesch. d. Botanik, vil. iii.,'r 
