PLANTS CULTIVATED FOB THEIR SEEDS. 



corn), given to maize in almost all modern European Ian- 

 guages no more prove an Eastern origin than the charter 

 of Incisa. These names are as erroneous as that of coq 

 d'Inde, in English turkey, given to an American bird. 

 Maize is called in Lorraine and in the Vosges Roman corn ; 

 in Tuscany, Sicilian corn ; in Sicily, Indian corn ; in the 

 Pyrenees, Spanish corn ; in Provence, Barbary or Guinea 

 corn. The Turks call it Egyptian corn, and the Egyp- 

 tians, Syrian dourra. This last case proves at least that 

 it is neither Egyptian nor Syrian. The widespread 

 name of Turkish wheat dates from the sixteenth century. 

 It sprang from an error as to the origin of the plant, 

 which was fostered perhaps by the tufts which terminate 

 the ears of maize, which were compared to the beard of 

 the Turks, or by the vigour of the plant, which may have 

 given rise to an expression similar to the French fort 

 comme un turc. The first botanist who uses the name, 

 Turkish wheat, is Ruellius, in 1536. 1 Bock or Tragus, 2 in 

 1552, after giving a drawing of the species which he calls 

 Frumentum turcicum, Welschkorn, in Germany, having 

 learnt by merchants that it came from India, conceived 

 the unfortunate idea that it was a certain typha of Bac- 

 triana, to which ancient authors alluded in vague terms. 

 Dodoens in 1583, Camerarius in 1588, and Matthiole 8 rec- 

 tified these errors, and positively asserted the American 

 origin. They adopted the name mays, which they knew 

 to be American. We have seen (p. 363) that the zea of 

 the Greeks was a spelt. Certainly the ancients did not 

 know maize. The first travellers 4 who described the 

 productions of the new world were surprised at it, a clear 

 proof that they had not known it in Europe. Hernandez, 5 

 who left Europe in 1571, according to some authorities, 

 in 1593 according to others, 6 did not know that from the 



1 Ruellius, De Natura Stirpium, p. 428, " Hano quoniam nostrorum 

 aetate e Grsecia vel Asia veuerit Turcicum frumentum nominant." Fuch- 

 sius, p. 824, repeats this phrase in 1543. 



2 Tragus, Stirpium, etc., edit. 1552, p. 650. 



3 Dodoens, Pemptades, p. 509 ; Camerarius, Hort., p. 94 j Matthiole, 

 deit. 1570, p. 305. 



4 P. Martyr, Ercilla, Jean de Lery, etc., 1516-1578. 



5 Hernandez, Thes. Mexic. , p. 242. 6 Lasegue, Mus6e Delessert, p. 467. 



