STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 539 



ning to the end of its culttire. Theophrastus, who flourished about 322 B. C, speaks 

 of alexanders as an officinal plant, under the name of hipposelinon. Dioscorides, who 

 lived in the first century after Christ, speaks of the edible properties of the roots and 

 leaves, while Columella and Pliny, authors of the same century, speak of its cultivation. 

 Galen, in the second century, classes it among edibles, and Apicius, in the third centtuy, 

 gives a recipe for its preparation for the table. Charlemagne, who died A. D. 814, 

 included this vegetable among those ordered to be planted on his estates. Ruellius's 

 edition oi ^ioscorides, 1529, does not speak of its culture, nor does Leonicenus, 1529; 

 but Fuchsius, 1542, says it is planted in gardens. Tragus, 1552, received seed from a 

 friend, so it was apparently not generally grown in his part of Germany at this date. 

 Matthiolus, in his Commentaries, 1558, refers to its edible qualities. Pena and Lobel, 

 1570, say in England it occurs abtmdantly in gardens and that the cultivated form is far 

 better than the wild plant. Camerarius, 1586, says, "in hortis seritur." Gerarde, 1597, 

 does not speak of its culture but says, " groweth in most places of England," but in his 

 edition of 1630 says, " The root hereof is also in our age served to the table raw for a 

 sallade herbe." Dodonaeus, 1616, refers to its culture in the gardens of Belgium, and 

 Bodaeus k Stapel, in his edition of Theophrastus, 1644, says it is much approved in salads 

 and is cultivated as a vegetable. Le Jardinier Solitaire, 1612, mentions the culture of 

 celery, but not that of alexanders, in French gardens. Qiiintyne, in the English edition 

 of his Complete Gard'ner, 1704, says " it is one of the furnitures of our winter-sallads, 

 which must be whitened like otu- wild Endive or Succory." In 1726, Townsend, in his 

 Complete Seedsman, refers to the manner of use, but adds, " 'tis but in few gardens." 

 Mawe's Gardener, 1778, refers to this vegetable, but it is apparently in minor use at this 

 time; yet Varlo, in his Husbandry, 1785, gives directions for continuous sowing of the 

 seed in order to secure a more continuous supply. McMahon, in his American Gardeners' 

 Kalendar, 1806, includes this vegetable in his descriptions but not in his general list of 

 kitchen garden esculents; it is likewise enimierated by later American writers and is 

 included by Burr, 1863, among garden vegetables, a survival of mention apparently not 

 indicating use; and Vilmorin, in his Les Plantes Potageres, 1883, gives a heading and a 

 few lines to maceron. Its seed is not now advertised in our catalogs. 



S. perfoliattim Linn. Alexanders. 



Southern Europe. This form of alexanders is thought by some to be superior to 

 5. olusatrum} This species is perhaps confounded with 5. olusatrum in some of the ref- 

 erences already given. Loudon says it was formerly cultivated, and Mcintosh says it 

 is thought by many superior to 5. olusatrum, a remark which Burr ^ includes in his descrip- 

 tion. Although the species is separated by a number of the older botanists, yet Ruellius, 

 1529, is the only one who refers to its edible qualities. This plant, which De Candolle 

 says has been under common culture for fifteen centuries, has shown no change of type 

 diuing that time. The figures, which occur in so many of the herbals, all show the same 

 type of plant, irrespective of the source from which the illustration may have been taken, 

 unless perhaps the root is drawn rather more enlarged in some cases than in others. 



' Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2:129. '855. 

 Burr, F. Field, Card. Veg. 315. 1863. 



