STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 543 



Calyx not spiny. 



Melantzana arahum melongena. Dalechamp 2: app. 23. 1587. 



Solanum pomiferimi fructu incurvo. Bauh. J. 3:619. 1651; Chabr. 524. 1673; 

 Pluk. Phyt. t. 226, p. 2. 1691. 



Aubergine violette longue. Decaisne and Naudin. Man. 4:287. 

 Calyx spiny. 



Aubergine violette longue. Vilm. 24. 1883. 



^ IV. 



The Oblong or Pear-shaped. 



This form is a swollen fruit with an elongation towards the summit, in some of its 

 varieties shaped like the powder-horn gourd. 

 Calyx not spiny. 



Melantzana nigra. Dalechamp. 2: app. 23. 1587. 



Aubergine violette nain tres hative. Vilm. 26. 1883. 



Early Round Violet. Damman. 1884. 

 Calyx spiny. 



Solanum pomiferum magnus fructu, etc. Plxik. Phyt. t. 226, p. 3. 1691. 



Melongena. Toum. t. 65. 1719. 



American Large Purple. Burr. 609. 1863. 



We may note that the Arabic words melongena and bedengaim were applied by 

 Rauwolf to the long-fruited form, the calyx not spiny, while the word betleschaim or melan- 

 zana batleschaim was applied to the spiny-calyx form of the pear-shaped, if Gronovius's ' 

 synonymy is to be trusted. 



Every type in the varieties under cultivation can with certainty be referred to one 

 of the four forms above named. The oval t}7pe is figured in 1542, as we have shown; 

 the round type in 1648, in Brazil; the long type, by Dalechamp, in 1587; and the pear- 

 shaped type also in 1587. All the colors now noted, and more, receive notice by the 

 ancient writers. As we have confined otir sjoionymy to those authors who have given 

 figures and have omitted those who but described, however certainly the descriptions 

 v/ould apply, we can claim accuracy as to our facts. 



We, hence, have no evidence that types have originated through cultivation in recent 

 years and we have strong evidence that types have continued unchanged through long- 

 continued cultivation under diverse climates. It is but as we examine variation within 

 types that we see the influences of cultivation. The oval-fruited is described by Dodo- 

 naeus, 1616, as of the form and size of an egg, but he says that in Egypt, where the plant 

 is wild, it attains double or three times the size which it has in France and Germany. 

 Ray, 1686, compares the size of the long-fruited to that of an egg, or of a cucimiber, a 

 comparison that would answer for to-day, as cucumber-size covers a wide range; but, 

 he adds, that the curved form is like a long gourd. The figures of the pear-shaped in 

 1 7 19 indicate a fruit which compares well with the usual sizes grown at the present time. 

 It is in regularity of form and in the large size of selected strains that we see the influence 

 arising from careful selection and protected growth. What other influence has climate 

 exercised? We do not know. 



Gronovius Fl. Orient. 25, 26. 1755. 



