114 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



0. sativus appears to be wild in several districts of 

 Portugal and the south of Spain. I have a spscimen 

 from Tangier ; and Cosson found it in Al^^jeria. It is 

 often found in abandoned fields, and even elsewhere. It 

 is difiicult to say whether the specimens are not from 

 plants escaped from cultivation, but localities are cited 

 where this seems improbable ; for instance, a pine wood 

 near Chiclana, in the south of Spain (VVillkomra). 



Spergula, or Corn Spurry Spergida arvensis, Lin- 

 naeus. 



This annual, belonging to the family of the Caryo- 

 phylacese, grows in sandy fields and similar places in 

 Europe, in North Africa and Abyssinia,^ in Western Asia 

 as far as Hindustan,^ and even in Java.^ It is difficult to 

 know over what extent of the old world it was originally 

 indigenous. In many localities we do not know if it is 

 really wild or naturalized from cultivation. Sometimes 

 a recent introduction may be suspected. In India, for 

 instance, numerous specimens have been gathered in the 

 last few years ; but Roxburgh, who was so diligent a 

 collector at the end of the last and the beginning of the 

 present century, does not mention the species. No 

 Sanskrit or modern Hindu name is known,* and it has 

 not been found in the countries between India and 

 Turkey. 



The common names may tell us something with 

 regard to the origin of the species and to its culti- 

 vation. 



No Greek or Latin name is known. Spergula, in 

 Italian spergola, seems to be a common name long in use 

 in Italy. Another Italian name, erha renaiola, indicates 

 only its gi'owth in the sand {vena). The French {spar- 

 govble), Spanish (esparcillas), Portuguese (espargata), and 

 German (Spark), have all the same root. It seems that 

 throughout the south of Europe the species was taken 

 from country to country by the Romans, before the 



Boissier, Fl. Orient., i. p. 731. 



* Hooker, Fl. Brit. Ind., i. p. 243, and several specimens from the 

 Nilgherries and Ceylon in my herbarium. 



Zollinger, No. 2556 in my herbariuca. * Piddincrton, Index. 



