PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR SEEDS. o77 



Anglo-Indian botanists^ attribute two Sanskrit 

 names to the modern species, llnu and vreehib-heda, 

 althouoh the modern Hindu and Bencfali name cheena and 

 the Telinga name iuo7Y/a are quite different. If the 

 Sanskrit names are genuine, they indicate an ancient 

 cultivation in India. No Hebrew nor Berber name is 

 known, ^ but there are Arab names, doJdtn, used in 

 Egypt, and Jwsjccjb in Arabia.^ There are various 

 European names. Besides the Greek and Latin words, 

 there is an ancient Slav name, proso,'^ retained in Russia 

 and Poland, an old Gemian word hirsi, and a Lithuanian 

 name sora^ The absence of Keltic names is remarkable. 

 It appears that the species was cultivated especially in 

 Eastern Europe, and spread westward towards the end of 

 the Gallic dominion. 



With regard to its wild existence, Linnseus says ^ that 

 it inhabits India, and most authors repeat this ; but 

 Anglo-Indian botanists '^ always give it as cultivated. It 

 is not found in Japanese floras. In the north of China 

 de Bunge only saw it cultivated,^ and Maximowicz near 

 the Ussuri, on the borders of fields and in places near 

 Chinese dwellings.^ Ledebour says ^"^ it is nearly wild in 

 Altaic Siberia and Central Russia, and wild south of the 

 Caucasus and in the country of Talysch. He quotes 

 Hohenacker for the last-named locality, who, however, 

 says only " nearly wild." ^^ In the Crimea, where it 

 furnishes bread for the Tartars, it is found here and there 

 nearly wild/^ which is also the case in the south of 

 France, in Italy, and in Austria.^^ It is not wild in 



> Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., edit. 1832, p. 310 ; Piddington, I?} Jp-t., 

 ' Rosenmiiller, Bibl. Alterth. ; Diet. Franq.'Berhere. 



* Delile, FL JSgypt., p. 3 ; Forskal, Fl. Arab., civ. 



* Ad. Pictet, Origines Indo-Europdennes, edit. 2, vol. i. p. 351, 



* Ibid. ^ Linnoeus, Spec. Plant., i. p. 86. 



^ Roxburgh, i'L Ind., edit. 1832, p. 310 j Aitchison, Cat. of Punjab PI., 

 p. 159. 



* Bunge, Fnum.y No. 400. • Maximowicz, Primitice Amur., p. 3C0. 

 " Ledebour, Fl. Ross., iv. p. 469. 



" Hohenacker, Plant. Talysch., p. 13. 

 '* Steven, Verzeich. Halb. Taur., p. 371. 



" Mutel, Fl. Franc^., iv. p. 20 ; Parlatore, Fl. ItaL, i. p. 122 ; Yiviani, 

 Fl. Damat., i. p. 60 j Neilreich, Fl. Nicd. QHsterr., p. 32. 



