34 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



mustard, was sometimes called in French cran, or cranson 

 de Bretagne. This was an error caused by the old 

 botanical name Armovacia, which was taken for a cor- 

 ruption of Ariinorica (Brittany). Armoracia occurs in 

 Pliny, and was applied to a crucifer of the Pontine 

 province, which was perhaps Raphanus sativus. After I 

 had formerly^ pointed out this confusion, I expressed 

 myself as follows on the mistaken origin of the species : — 

 Cochlear la Armoracia is not wild in Brittany, a fact 

 now established by the researches of botanists in the 

 west of France. The Abbe Delalande mentions it in 

 his little work, entitled Hceclic et Houat,^ in which he 

 gives so interesting an account of the customs and pro- 

 ductions of these two little islands of Brittany. He 

 quotes the opinion of M. le Gall, who, in an unpublished 

 flora of Morbihan, declares the plant foreign to Brittany. 

 This proof, however, is less strong than others, since the 

 south coast of the peninsula of Brittany is not yet 

 sufficiently known to botanists, and the ancient Armorica 

 extended over a portion of Normandy where the wild 

 horse-radish is now found.^ This leads me to speak of 

 the original home of the species. English botanists 

 mention it as wild in Great Britain, but are doubtful 

 about its origin. Watson * considers it as introduced by 

 cultivation. The difficulty of extirpating it, he says, 

 from places where it is cultivated, is well known to 

 gardeners. It is therefore not surprising that this plant 

 should take possession of waste ground, and persist there 

 so as to appear indigenous. Babington ^ mentions only 

 one spot where the species appears to be really wild, 

 namely, Swansea. We will try to solve the problem by 

 further arguments. 



Cochlear ia Armoracia is a plant belonging to the 

 temperate, and especially to the eastern regions of Europe. 

 It is diffused from Finland to Astrakhan, and to the 



^ A. de Candolle, Geographie Botanique Raisonnee, p. 654. 

 - Delalande, Hosdic et Houat, 8vo pamphlet, Nantes, 1850, p. 109. 

 ^ Hardouin, Eenou, and Leclerc, Catalogue du Calvados, p. 85 ; De 

 Brebisson, Fl. de Normandie, p. 25. 

 * Watson, Cyhele, i. p. 159. 

 ^ Babington, Manual of Brit. Bot., 2nd edit., p. 28. 



