,l66 STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



in common use in ancient Rome and varieties are mentioned by Columella and Pliny,* 

 the latter naming the white and black, the Dove of Venus pea, and many kinds differing 

 from each other in size. Albertus Magnus,' in the thirteenth century, mentions the red, 

 the white and the black sorts, and this mention of colors is continued by the herbalists 

 of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. The white chick-pea is the sort 

 now generally grown in France, where the dried seeds find large use in soups. The red 

 variety is now extensively grown in eastern countries, and the black sort is described as 

 more curious than useful. 



Cichorium endivia Linn. Compositae. endive. 



Etirope and the Orient. This is a widely distributed plant, probably of East Indian 

 origin, where certainly, says Unger,* " The same plant is met with wild about Patna and 

 Kamaon, as well as in Nepal." Others deem it a native plant of Sicily. It was used as 

 an esculent from a very early period by the Egyptians and was known to the Greeks 

 Ovid mentions it in his tale of Philemon and Baucis, Columella also refers to it as common 

 in his day, and Pliny states it was eaten in his time as a salad and as a potherb. It was 

 in cultivation in England as early as 1548.* It is not known when the endive was first 

 used in the United States, but McMahon,' 1806, mentions the Green Curled, White Ciu-led 

 and the Broad-leaved in cultivation. In 1828 and 1881, Thorbum offers the seed of these 

 varieties only. 



There are two distinct forms of endive, the ciu-led and the broad-leaved. The first 

 does not seem to have been known to the ancients, although Dioscorides ^ and Pliny * 

 name two kinds. In the thirteenth century, Albertus Magnus ' names also two kinds, 

 the one with narrower leaves than the other; and in 1542 Fuchsius '" figures two kinds 

 of like description, and like forms are noted in nearly all the earlier botanies. A curled, 

 broad-leaved form is figured by Camerarius," 1586; Dalechamp,'^ 1587; and Gerarde," 

 1597. Endive is described in the Adversaria,^^ 1570. The authors named furnish what 

 may reasonably be considered as the types of the four kinds of broad-leaved endives 

 described by Vilmorin.^^ The origin of the curled endives, of which Vilmorin describes 

 twelve, is difficult to trace. The peculiar tnmcate appearance of the seed-stalks is very 



' Columella lib. 9, c. I. 



Bostock and Riley Nat. Hist. Pliny 4:46. 1856. 



* Albertus Magnus Veg. Jessen Ed. 490. 1867. 

 < Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 353. 1859. 

 'Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2:1 sg. 1855. 

 McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Cat. 581. 1806. 



' Dioscorides lib. 2, c. 147. 

 ' Pliny lib. 20, c. 29, 32. 



* Albertus Magnus Feg. Jessen Ed. 508. 1867. 

 ' Fuchsius Hist. Stirp. 677, 678. 



" Camerarius Epit. 283. 1586. 



" Dalechamp Hist. Gen. PI. (Lugd.) 557. 1587. 



" Gerarde, J. Herb. 221. 1597. 



" Pena and Lobel Advers. 86. 1570. 



" Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 95. 1883. 



