96 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



years. Thcophrastus indicated three ; ^ le Bon Jardinier 

 of 1880 gives forty varieties existing in France. 



The ancient Greeks and Romans cultivated tlie lettuce, 

 especially as a salad. In the East its cultivation possibly 

 dates from an earlier epoch. Nevertheless it does not 

 appear, from the original common names both in Asia and 

 Europe, that this plant was generally or very anciently 

 cultivated. There is no Sanskrit nor Hebrew name 

 known, nor any in the reconstructed Aryan tongue. A 

 Greek name exists, tridax ; Latin, latiica ; Persian and 

 WiW(\.u,hahn; and the analogous Arabic form chuss or chass. 

 The Latin form exists also, slightly modified, in the Slav 

 and Germanic languages,^ which may indicate either that 

 the Western Aryans diffused the plant, or that its culti- 

 vation spread with its name at a later date from the 

 south to the north of Europe. 



Dr. Bretschneider has confirmed my supposition ^ 

 that the lettuce is not very ancient in China, and that it 

 was introduced there from the AVest, He says that the 

 first work in which it is mentioned dates from A.D. 600 

 to A.D. 900.4 



Wild Chicory Clchorium Intyhus, Linnreus. 



The wild perennial chicory, which is cviltivated as a 

 salad, as a vegetable, as fodder, and for its roots, which 

 are used to mix w' ith coffee, grows throughout Europe, 

 except in Lapland, in Marocco, and Algeria,'' from Eastern 

 Europe to Afghanistan and Beluchistan,'' in the Punjab 

 and Kashmir,'^ and from Russia to Lake Baikal in Siberia.^ 

 'J'he plant is certainly wild in most of these countries; 

 but as it often grows by the side of roads and fields, it is 

 I)robable that it has been transported by man from its 

 original home. This must be the case in India, for there 

 is no known Sanskrit name. 



The Greeks and Romans employed this species wild 



* Theophrastus, \. 7, c. 4. ^ Nemnich, Pohjjl. Lexicon. 



* A. de CandoUe, Geogr. B^t. Uaisonitie, p. 843. 



* Bietsclineider, Study and Value of Chinese Botanical Worka. p. 17. 

 ' Ball, Spicilcgium Fl. Marocc, p. 534; Muuby, Catal., edit. 2, p. 21. 



* Boissier, Fl. Ch-ient., iii. p. 715. 

 ' Clarke, Compos. Ind., p. 250. 



Ledebour, Fl. Ross., ii. p. 774. 



