86 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



European origin. The date of its cultivation is probably 

 very ancient, earlier than the Aryan invasions, but no 

 doubt the wild plant was gathered before it was cultivated. 



Garden-Cress — Lepidiuvi sativiimi, Linnaeus. 



This little Crucifer, now used as a salad, was valued 

 in ancient times for certain properties of the seeds. Some 

 authors believe that it answers to a certain cardamon of 

 Dioscorides ; wdiile others apply that name to Erucaria 

 aleppica} In the absence of sufficient description, as the 

 modern common name is cardamon^ the first of these 

 two suppositions is probably correct. 



The cultivation of the species must date from ancient 

 times and be widely diffused, for very different names 

 exist: rescliad in Arab, tureJdezuJc^ in Persian, c?«>?/es * in 

 Albanian, a language derived from the Pelasgic ; without 

 mentioning names drawn from the similarity of taste 

 with that of the water- cress {Nastiirtiiim officinale). 

 There are very distinct names in Hindustani and 

 Bencrali, but none are known in Sanskrit.^ 



At the present day the plant is cultivated in Europe, 

 in the north of Africa, in Eastern Asia, India, and else- 

 where, but its origin is somewhat obscure. I possess 

 several specimens gathered in India, wdiere Sir Joseph 

 Hooker^ does not consider the species indigenous. 

 Kotschy brought it back from Karrak, or Karek Island, 

 in the Persian Gulf. The label does not say that it was 

 a cultivated plant. Boissier '^ mentions it without com- 

 ment, and he afterwards speaks of specimens from Ispahan 

 and Egypt gathered in cultivated ground. Olivier is 

 quoted as having found the cress in Persia, but it is not 

 said whether it was growing w^ild.^ It has been asserted 

 that Sib thorp found it in Cyprus, but reference to his 

 work shows it was in the fields.^ Poech does not mention 



1 See Fraas, Syn. FI. Class., pp. 120, 124 ; Lenz, Bot. der Alien, p. G17. 



2 Sibthorp, Prodr, Ft. Groec.y ii. p. 6 ; Heldreich, Nutzpjl. GriechenL, 

 p. 47. 



2 Ainslie, Mat. Med. Ind., i. p. 95. * Heldreich, Nutz. Gr. 



^ Piddiugton, Index ; Ainslie, Mat. Med. Ind., i. p. 95. 



'^ Hooker, Fl. Brit. Ind., i. p. 160. ^ Boissier, Fl. Orient. j vol. i. 



8 De Candolle, Syst., ii. p. 533. 



® Sibthorp and Smith, Prodr. FL Grcccae, ii. p. 6. 



