268 ON THE PLANTS CULTIVATED OR NATURALIZED 
being one of the oldest in Europe, the cultivation of carrots in Spain 
must be anterior to the invasion of the Roman element. The Greeks 
A 

the ' carruca ' 
in Charlemagne's Cartularies appears to be the same word). Most ot 
the other European names are taken from the yellow colour of the root. 
The wild plant is common all over Europe and part of Asia ; but its 
cultivation appears to be nowhere older than in the Iberian peninsula. 
Carrots are not much cultivated in the neighbourhood of Caracas ; 
they grow, nevertheless, fine roots wheu some care is taken. The 
' Elora Caracasana ' contains another indigenous species of the same 
genus,—/), torriloides, DC. (Prod. iv. p. 214, n. 29), called ' Bisnaga , ' 
or ' Visnaga.' This name is said to be in Pliny ; its etymology is 
obscure. 
Arracacha esculenta, Bancr.— Extensively cultivated under the name 
' Apio,' which originally means Celery. There is indeed a remark- 
able likeness between the leaves of both plants. Por the same reason 
Sanicula crassicaulis, Pcepp. (De Cand. Prod. iv. p. 84. n. 6), a 
very common plant in our mountain ravines, is called 'Apio e 
montana.' 
Allium Cepa, L. (' Cebolla '), and A. sativum, L. (« Ajo *).— Both ex- 
tensively cultivated; the latter especially being a highly esteemed 
condiment in Creole cookery. Both plants are certainly introduced 
from Europe. Humboldt's quotation from Cortez, which would prove 
the contrary, is of no value, as Cortez is nothing less than exact with 
the few names of plants he mentions in his letters. The origins p 
sage runs thus :— " Hay todas las maneras de verduras que se fallau, 
especialmente cebollas, puerros, ajos, inastuerzos, berros, borrajas, at - 
deras y cardos y tagarninas " (Don Pern. Cortez, Cartas de Relation, 
ii. carta, in Bibl. de Aut. Esp., ed. Rivadeneyra, torn. xxii. p. 32). 
Alphonse De Candolle (Geogr. Bot. 829) meutions already the posi- 
tive statement made by T. Acosta, as to the European origin ot t >>: 
Leek cultivated in Peru. I add another, from Eranc. Lopez * 
Gomara (Hist, de las Indias, in Bibl. de Aut. Esp., ed. Rj™d. xxu. 
p. 177), "Todas las yerbas de hortaliza que llevaron de aca" ( tlia * lS 
"which were taken away from here," Gomara wrote his wor' m 
Spain,) " se hacen uiiiy lozanas, y tante que no granan las mas, 
■OB rabanos, lcchugas, cebollas, perejil, berzas, zauahorias, initios y 
de 
