STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 425 



In Chile, Molina says that before the country was conquered by the Spaniards, 13 

 or 14 kinds of the bean, varying but little from the common European bean, were culti- 

 vated by the natives. One of these has a straight stalk, the other 13 are climbers.* 



Commentators have qtdte generally considered P. vulgaris as among the plants cul- 

 tivated by the ancients, and De Candolle,^ who has given the subject much thought, thinks 

 the best argument is in the use of the modem nameis derived from the Greek fasiolos and 

 the Roman faseolus and phasiolus. In 1542, Fuchsius' used the German word Faselen 

 for the bean; in 1550, Roeszlin used the same word for the pea, as did also Tragus ^ in 

 1552. Fuchsius gives also an alternative name, welsch Bonen and Roeszlin, welsch Bonen 

 and welsch Phaselen for the bean; the same word, welsch Bonen, is given for the bean by 

 Tragus, 1552, and Kyber,* 1553. This epithet, welsch or foreign, would seem to apply 

 to a kind not heretofore known. Albertus Magnus,' who lived in the thirteenth century, 

 used the ward faselus as denoting a specific plant; as "faba etfaseolus et pisa et aim genera 

 egwfninis," " cicer, Java, faseolus." He also says, "Et sunt faseoli multorum colorum, sed 

 quodlibet granorum habet maculam nigram in loco cotyledonis." Now Dolichos unguiculatus 

 Linn, is a plant which produces beans with a black eye (the black eye appears in many 

 varieties of cowpea of the southern states) and is stated by Vilmorin to be grown in Italy 

 in many varieties. Of 2 19 bottles of true beans, each with a distinct name, many, however, 

 synonyms, not one has a black eye. The seeds of Dolichos unguiculatus, as well as 12 

 named varieties of cowpea all have a circle of black about the white eye, also one variety 

 of cowpea which is all black has a white eye, and one red-speckled form does not have the 

 black. It seems, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the faselus of Albertus Magnus 

 was a Dolichos. In the list of vegetables Charlemagne ordained to be planted on his 

 estates the word fasiolum occurs without explanation. ' 



Passing now to the Roman writers. Columella ^ speaks of longa fasellus, an epithet 

 which well applies to the pods of the Dolichos; he gives directions for field culture, not 

 for garden ctilture, and recommends planting in October. Pliny '" says the pods are eaten 

 with the seed, and the planting is in October and November. Palladius" recommends 

 the planting of faselus in September and October, in a fertile and well-tilled soil, four 

 modii per jugerum. Virgil's '^ epithet, vilemque phaselum, also indicates field cultiire, as 

 to be cheap implies abimdance. 



Among the Greek writers, Aetius," in the fourth century, says the Dolichos and 



^MoUna. Hist. Chili 1:91. 1808. 

 De Candolle, A. Orig. Cult. Pis. 339. 1885. 

 ' Fuchsius Hist. Stirp. 708. 1542. 

 'Roeszlin Kreuterb. 149. 1550. 



Tragus Stirp. 611. 1552. 



' Kyher Lexicon 40^. 1553. 



' Albertus Magnus Veg. Jessen Ed. 118, 167,515. 1867. 



De Candolle, A. Orig. Pis. Cult. 340. 1885. 

 Columella lib. 10, c. 378; lib. 2, c. 10; lib. 11, c. 2. 



"Pliny lib. 18, c. 33. 



" Palladius lib. 10, c. 12; lib. 11, c. i. 



"Virgil GeoAgici 1:227. 



" Theophrastus Hist. PI. Bodaeus Ed. 925. 1644. 



