PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR STEMS OR LEAVES. 89 



Europe. In Greece the plant is wild as well as culti- 

 vated. 1 Further to the west, in Italy, etc., we begin to 

 find it indicated in floras, but only growing in fields, 

 gardens, rubbish-heaps, and other suspicious localities. 2 



Thus the evidence of philology and botany alike show 

 that the species is indigenous in the whole of the region 

 which extends from the western Himalayas to the south 

 of Russia and Greece. 



New Zealand Spinach Tetragonia expansa, Murray. 



This plant was brought from New Zealand at the time 

 of Cook's famous vo}^age, and cultivated by Sir Joseph 

 Banks, and hence its name. It is a singular plant from a 

 double point of view. In the first place, it is the only 

 cultivated species which comes from New Zealand ; and 

 secondly, it belongs to an order of usually fleshy plants, 

 the Ficoidece, of which no other species is used. Hor- 

 ticulturists 3 recommend it as an annual vegetable, of 

 which the taste resembles that of spinach, but which 

 bears drought better, and is therefore a resource in 

 seasons when spinach fails. 



Since Cook's voyage it has been found wild chiefly on 

 the sea coast, not only in New Zealand but also in Tas- 

 mania, in the south and west of Australia, in Japan, and 

 in South America. 4 It remains to be discovered whether 

 in the latter places it is not naturalized, for it is found 

 in the neighbourhood of towns in Japan and Chili. 5 



Garden Celery Apium graveolens, Linnaeus. 



Like many Umbellifers which grow in damp places, 

 wild celery has a wide range. It extends from Sweden to 

 Algeria, Egypt, Abyssinia, and in Asia from the Caucasus 

 to Beluchistan, and the mountains of British India. 6 



1 Lenz, Bot. der Alien, p. 632 ; Heldreich, Ft. Attisch. Ebene., p. 483. 



2 Bertoloni, Fl. It, vol. v. ; Gussone, FL Sic., vol. i. ; Moris, Fl. Sard., 

 vol. ii. ; Willkomm and Lange, Prodr. Fl. Hisp., vol. iii. 



3 Botanical Magazine, t. 2362 ; Bon Jardinier, 1880, p. 567. 



4 Sir J. Hooker, Handbook of New Zealand Flora, p. 84 ; Bentham, 

 Flora Australiensis, iii. p. 327 j Franchet and Savatier, Enum. Plant. 

 Japonice, i. p. 177. 



5 01. Gay, Flora Chilena, ii. p. 468. 



6 Fries, Summa Veget. Scanti* ) Munby, Catal. Alger., p. 11 ; Boissier, 

 Fl. Orient., vol. ii. p. 856 ; St/b.vreiafurth. and Ascnerson, Aufzahlung, 

 p. 272 ; Hooker, Fl. Brit. Ind., ii. p. 679. 



