WESTER: HISTORY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE ROSELLE 95 
“Thorn mallow riseth up with an upright stalk of two cubits 
high dividing itself into divers branches, whereupon are placed 
leaves deeply cut to the middle rib and likewise snipt about the 
edges like a saw: in taste like the sorrel, the floures for the most 
part thrust forth of the trunk or body of the small stalke, com- 
act of five small leaves of a yellowish colour; the middle part 
whereof is of a purple tending to rednesse; the huske or cod 
wherein the floure doth stand is set or armed with sharpe thornes: 
the root is small, single and impatient of our cold climate, inso- 
much that when I had with great industry nourished up some 
from the seed and kept them unto the midst of May notwith- 
standing one cold night chancing among many hath destroied 
them all. 
The woodcut accompanying this description is a reproduction 
of that used by Clusius in the work referred to. The writer has 
not had access to the first edition of the Herball issued in 1597 
and therefore can not say if the description of the roselle and the 
illustration accompanying it were contained there. Clusius does 
not refer to Gerarde, but Bauhin, in Pinax Theatri Botanici, 
published twelve years earlier than the second editon of Gerarde’s 
Herball cited, does, showing that the plant was mentioned in the 
first edition. Aiton says that it was cultivated by Gerarde in 
England, 1596,* additional evidence that the first edition of the 
Herball contained reference to the roselle. The lack of reference 
to Gerarde by Clusius is not proof that he was not acquainted with 
his work, for omissions of this character are habitual with him. 
J. Bauhin says { that he saw the plant flowering in September, 
1595, at Basel (Switzerland). He says further that “ Rauwolfius 
says that it is known among the Arabs as Lubie Endigi, that is, 
Phaseolus indicus, and thinks it is the Trionum of Theophrastus 
—pbut I think this plant (roselle) was unknown to the ancients.” 
However correct the conclusion of Bauhin was in regard to syn- 
onymy of Trionum and Lubie Endigi, it is evident from the de- 
scription and woodcut of this plant by Rauwolfius that he had in 
mind another plant, probably the okra. 
* Aiton, W. Hort. Kew. 4: 227. 1812. 
¢Since writing the above I have had access to the first edition of Gerarde’s 
Herball. The description of the roselle plant there is substantially the same as the 
one quoted; the woodcut accompanying it is a reproduction of the figure by L’Obel 
in Stirpium Historia, reversed. 
tBauhin, J. Historia Plantarum 2: 960. 1651. 
