PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR SUBTERRANEAN PARTS. 39 



Skirret — Slum Sisarum, Linnaeus. 



This vivacious Umbellifer, furnished with several 

 diverging roots in the form of a carrot, is believed to come 

 from Eastern Asia. Linnaeus indicates China, doubtfully ; 

 and Loureiro,^ China and Cochin-China, where he says it 

 is cultivated. Others have mentioned Japan and the 

 Corea, but in these countries there are species which it 

 is easy to confound with the one in question, particularly 

 Sium Ninsi and Panax Ginseng. Maximowicz,^ who 

 has seen these plants in China and in Japan, and who 

 has studied the herbariums of St. Petersburgh, recognizes 

 only the Altaic region of Siberia and the North of Persia 

 as the home of the wild Siunn Sisarum. I am very 

 doubtful whether it is to be found in the Himalayas or 

 in China, since modern works on the region of the river 

 Amoor and on British India make no mention of it. 



It is doubtful whether the ancient Greeks and Romans 

 knew this plant. The names Sisaron of Dioscorides, Siser 

 of Columella and of Pliny,^ are attributed to it. Certainly 

 the modern Italian name sisaro or sisero seems to confirm 

 this idea; but how could these authors have failed to 

 notice that several roots descend from the base of the stem, 

 whereas all the other umbels cultivated in Europe have 

 but a single tap-root? It is just possible that the siser 

 of Columella, a cultivated plant, may have been the 

 parsnip ; but what Pliny says of the siser does not apply 

 to it. According to him it was a medicinal plant, inter 

 medica dicenduiyi^ He says that Tiberius caused a 

 quantity to be brought every year from Germany, which 

 proves, he adds, that it thrives in cold countries. 



If the Greeks had received the plant direct from 

 Persia, Theophrastus would probably have known it. It 

 came perhaps from Siberia into Russia, and thence into 

 Germany, in which case the anecdote about Tiberius 

 might well apply to the skirret. I cannot find any 



* Linnaeus, Species, p. 361; Loureiro, Fl. Cochin cldnensis, p. 225. 



* Maximowicz, Diagnoses Plantarum JaponiccB et Manshurice, in 

 Melanges Biologiques du Bulletin de VAcad., St. JPetersburg, decad 13, p. 18. 



3 Dioscorides, Mat. Med., 1. 2, c. 139 j Columella, 1. 11, c. 3, 18, 35 j 

 Lenz, Bat. der Alien, p. 560. 



* Pliny, Hist. Plant., 1. 19, c. 5. 



