PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR STEMS OR LEAVES. 101 



There are other names in Bengali and Hindustani The 

 young shoots sometimes take the place of asparagus 

 at the table of the English.^ A. melancholicus, often 

 grown as an ornamental plant in European gardens, is 

 considered one of the forms of this species. 



Its original home is perhaps India, but I cannot dis- 

 cover that the plant has ever been found there in a wild 

 state ; at least, this is not asserted by any author. All 

 the species of the genus Ainarantus spread themselves in 

 cultivated ground, on rubbish-heaps by the wayside, and 

 thus become half-naturalized in hot countries as well as 

 in Europe. Hence the extreme difficulty in distinguish- 

 ing the species, and above all in guessing or proving their 

 origin. The species most nearly akin to A. gangeticus 

 appear to be Asiatic. 



A. gangeticTJUs is said by trustworthy authorities to 

 be wild in Egypt and Abyssinia ; ^ but this is perhaps 

 only the result of such naturalization as I spoke of 

 just now. The existence of numerous varieties and 

 of different names in India, render its Indian origin most 

 probable. 



The Japanese cultivate as vegetables A. caudatus, 

 A. Tnangostanus, and A. melancholicus (or gangeticus) of 

 Linnaeus,* but there is no proof that any of them are 

 indigenous. In Java A. polystachyus, Blume, is cul- 

 tivated; it is very common among rubbish, by the 

 wayside, etc.* 



I shall speak presently of the species grown for the 

 seed. 



Leek — Allium ampeloprasum, var. Porrum. 



According to the careful monograph by J. Gay,® the 

 leek, as early writers® suspected, is only a cultivated 

 variety of Allium, ampeloprasuTn of Linnseus, so com- 

 mon in the East, and in the Mediterranean region, 



' Roxburgh, Flora Indica, edit. 2, vol. iii. p. 606. 

 ' Boissier, Flora Orientalis, iv. p. 990 ; Sohweinfurth and ABcherson, 

 Aufmhlu-ng, etc., p. 289. 



' Franchet and Savatier, Enum. Plant. JaponicB, i. p. 390. 



* Hasskari, Plant. Javam,. Bariores, p. 431. 



» Gay, Ann. des 8c. Nat., 3rd series, vol. viii. 



' LinnEBUS, Species PI. ; De CandoUe, Fl. Frang., iii. p. 219. 



