220 CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. [/uly, 



of botany is credited with another Lotus, not an herbaceous, but 

 an arboreous species, which gave origin to the term Lotophagi 

 (Lotus-eaters). This tree, now called Celtis, produces a fruit 

 which was very grateful to the companions of Ulysses (Od.ix.84). 



Lychnis. This is a general term applied by the ancients to 

 woolly plants, or to such as produced leaves suitable for lamp- 

 wicks. Examples are seen in Verbascum Thapsus, Lychnis Coro- 

 naria, etc. L. Githago was observed in Greece by Sibthorp ; 

 but it is not attributed to Theophrastus. (Bil. 115 ; Stack. 46.) 



Malva, iMaXaxn, Mallow. See above, under Lavatera. Our 

 word Mallow, Lat. Malva, French Mauve, etc., are derived from 

 the Greek. Theophrastus states that by cultivation, SevSpovrai, 

 it becomes a tree ; and hence it has been conjectured that the 

 Tree Mallow, L. arborea, was meant by Theophrastus. There is 

 a form of Brassica grown in Jersey which attains to the height 

 of 12 feet, and is the so-called Tree Cabbage, and it deserves this 

 title fully as well as the Tree Mallow merits its name. 



"Theophrastus in the nynthe booke de historia plantarum, 

 writeth that certayn thynges by dressyng and trymming de- 

 parte fro theyr kynde and old nature, as the Mallow doth, sayetli 

 he, whiche when as it is by nature but an herbe, yet groweth up 

 into the greatenes of a tre. He sayth that the garden Mallow 

 within six or seven monethes groweth so higlie, that the stalck 

 of it will serve for a lance-staff, and that therfore diverse use the 

 stalkesof Mallows for staves" (Turner's ' Herbale/ part ii. p. 45). 



Medicago, fiTjEiKT]. Etymologists say that the plant received 

 its name because it was originally introduced from Media into 

 Greece. It is not impossible that this may be the origin of the 

 term, though the relations of the Greeks with the Medes and 

 Persians were not usually of the most friendly nature. M. sativa 

 is the only one which is common to both Greece and Great Bri- 

 tain. See Theo. viii. 8 ; and Bil. 197. The Lucerne was cele- 

 brated by Pliny, Varro, Virgil, Columella, Isidore, etc. 



Melampyrum. This term literally means " black wheat," 

 and might have received this name from its communieatmg a 

 black appearance to the wheat when dressed, or from its inju- 

 rious effects on the flour when any perceptible portion was 

 ground up with the genuine article. Billerbeck refers M. arvense 

 to the plant noticed by Theophrastus (Hist. viii. 5, 8), and this 

 is by no means improbable. M. cristatum, on the same authority, 



