I860,] CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. 203 



Allium. It is pretty generally supposed that two British 

 Allia {A. Schcenoprasum and A. Scorodoprasum, Chives and Sand 

 Garlic) are named or described in Theophrastus. They have in 

 Greek several names, as irpacrov or yrjOvov, the Leek, Kpofxvov, 

 the Onion, a proof that they were in common use and much cul- 

 tivated. They are popular esculents or condiments in all parts of 

 Em'ope. Chives, — in German, das Suppenlauch (soup-leek), — is 

 a savoury ingredient in stews, hashes, etc. Theoph. vii. 4 ; Spren. 

 i. 87; Stack. 16. 61, etc. 



Alth^a. a. officinalis, our Marsh Mallow, was observed by 

 Sibthorp in moist places in Boeotia, Thessaly, and Peloponnesus, 

 and Theophrastus^ plant is rendered by Gaza, Hibiscus. Mallows 

 were in great repute anciently, both for food and physic ; and in 

 modern times the virtues of Marsh Mallow are not wholly ig- 

 nored by country pharmacopolists. They are popular vulneraries 

 even in the present day. The plant itself is very generally dis- 

 tributed in many parts of Europe, and it may have been alluded 

 to by the earliest writer on plants. But it is very uncertain 

 what species is that described or incidentally named by Theo- 

 phrastus. Neither C. Bauhin nor Clusius quote the eloquent 

 Greek botanist as an authority for their plant. See Bauhin, 315 ; 

 Clusius, xxiv. ; Bil. 175. See Mallow, infra. 



Anchusa. a. tinctoria is not doubtful. Its red root, from 

 which the colouring extract is derived, sufficiently denotes that 

 it is the plant meant by the early Greek botanists. It is not a 

 British species ; and indeed both A. officinalis and A. sempervi- 

 rens are branded as suspected aliens. Very grave doubts are 

 entertained about their origin. We have certainly obtained the 

 name of the genus from Greece, and we have one, if not two, of 

 the species, occurring here and there, and though in no great 

 plenty, yet well established, and long known as a spontaneous 

 production of the British Isles. 



Anemone. A. nemorosa {ave/jbcovr) Xeificovia) , though not 

 described nor noticed by Theophrastus, does grow on the moun- 

 tain of Parnassus in Greece. Its name and the time of its 

 flowering are only noticed in the ' Historia Plantarum.^ No au- 

 thor appears to have even conjectured what species is intended. 

 See Bil. 142. 



Anemone apennina, a doubtful native of Britain, grows in" the 

 Peloponnesus. 



