PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR STEMS OR LEAVES, ill 



Ledebour,* for instance, mentions specimens gathered in 

 the desert, near the Caspian Sea, and in the province of 

 Lenkoran. Meyer ^ confirms the assertion with respect to 

 Lenkoran. Baker, in his flora of British India, after 

 indicating the species as scattered here and there in the 

 northern provinces, adds, '' often cultivated," whence it 

 may be inferred that he considers it as indigenous, at 

 least in the north. Boissier asserts nothinor with res^ard 

 to the localities in Persia which he mentions in his 

 Oriental flora.^ 



To sum up, I think it probable that the species was 

 indigenous before cultivation in the region extending 

 from the south of the Caucasus, or of the Caspian Sea, 

 to the north of India, and that it spread towards Europe 

 in the track of ancient cultivation, mixed perhaps with 

 cereals. 



Ochrus — Pisum ochruSy Linn?eus ; Lathyrus oclirus, de 

 Candolle. 



Cultivated as an annual fodder in Catalonia, under 

 the name of tapisots,^ and in Greece, particularly in 

 the island of Crete, under that of ochros,^ mentioned 

 by Theophrastus,^ but without a word of description. 

 Latin authors do not speak of it, which argues a rare 

 and local cultivation in ancient times. 



The species is certainly wild in Tuscany.'' It appears 

 to be wild also in Greece and Sardinia, where it is found 

 in hedges,^ and in Spain, where it grows in uncultivated 

 ground;^ but as for the south of France, Algeria, and 

 Sicily, authors are either silent as to the locality, or 

 mention only fields and cultivated ground. The plant 

 is unknown further east than Syria/^ where probably it 

 is not wild. 



^ Ledebonr, Fl. Iloss., i. p. 681. 



' C. A. Meyer, Verzeichniss, p. 148. 



• Boissier, Fl. Orient., ii. p. 606. 



• Willkomm and Lange, Prod/r. Fl. Hisp., iii. p. 312. 



» Lenz, Bot. d. Alien, p. 730 ; Heldreich, Nutzpfl. Gr., p. 72. 



• Lenz. 



' Caruel, Fl. Tosc, p. 193 ; Gnssone, 8yn. Fl. Sic, edit. 2. 



• Boissier, Fl. Orient., ii. p. 602 ; Moris, Fl. Sard., i. p. 582. 



• Willkomm and Lange, Prodr. F!. Hisp. '" Boissier, Fl. Orient 



