86 Mr. RoYLE on the Lyciiim of Dloscorkles. 



made, both possess nearly similar properties, and both are Indian products, 

 and because the Indian Lychtm was always preferred by ancient practitioners. 

 But I have never seen in any of the Persian works on Materia Medica, which 

 are derived from the Arabic, the name Hadhadh, or Hacchic, applied to Ca- 

 techu, though, as will afterwards abundantly appear, it is to Li/c'mm. Rau- 

 wolf, in his Itinerary, p. 485, mentions Lyc'ium as " a plant with small branches, 

 which still retains its name among our apothecaries, called by King David, in 

 the 38th Psalm, by its Hebrew name Hadhadh, by which it is still known 

 among the Arabs, the two languages being nearly related." The plant figured 

 is by Sprengel called Lycium europceum -, it may be a species of Rhamnus. 

 Prosper Alpinus, in his work De Plantis jEgyyti, lib. i. cap. xi. & xii., describes 

 and figures two plants, which he supposes may be the Lycium of Dioscorides ; 

 the first, he says, is called Agihalid, though a tree, but has leaves like Box, and 

 is used in medicine. This is said by Sprengel (vol. i. p. 383.) to be the Rhamnus 

 divarlcatus of Forskol, though I do not find this enumerated among either the 

 species or synonyms of Rhamnus. The plant represented is known to be Ba- 

 lanites legyptiaca, the Ximenia cegyptiaca of Linnaeus. The second plant, which 

 he considers may be Lycium, is called Uzez, and is referred to Lycium euro- 

 pceum by Sprengel. Both of these plants are supposed by Prosper Alpinus, 

 without, however, his adducing any proofs, to be the Lycium of Dioscorides. 

 Hasselquist found Lycium europceum in Egypt beyond Cairo, near the banks 

 of the Nile. It is common in hedges in Greece, and was identified by Dr. Sib- 

 thorp as being the papupog of Dioscorides, as it still retains the same name. 

 Prosper Alpinus, in his subsequent work, De Plantis Exoticis, referring to his 

 former opinions, gives a description and figure of Berberis cretica, M^iich he 

 considers to be the true Lycium of Dioscorides. This he describes as " spinis 

 horrens, foliis buxi, baccte oblongse, nigrescentes, piperis magnitudine et rotun- 

 ditate, sapore stiptico, primt) subdulci, postamarescente;" adding, "quod per- 

 tinet ad istius plantae facultates, atque ad usus medicos proculdubio habebit 

 et hsec planta easdem, et vires et usus quos antiqui de Lycio tradiderunt ;" 

 but that he is ignorant whether any extract like Lycium is obtained from the 

 roots or branches of this plant. Sir James E. Smith, in the Flora Grceca, 

 tab. 342., under Berberis cretica, (Cretan or Box-leaved Barberry,) quotes this 

 synonym of Alpinus as well as that of Pona, who calls it " Licio di Candia," 



