Lappa and Tribulus 



Lappa and Tribulus. 



'lappaeque tribulique' (Ge. i. 153, iii. 385). 

 It is clear from Pliny that ' lappa ' is the airapivr] 

 of Theophrastus, and it is clear that Theophrastus' 

 plant is goose-grass or cleavers (Galium Aparine), 

 and not burdock, as it figures in lexicons. Virgil 

 might well recommend its extirpation where sheep 

 were kept for wool. Not only the globular seed- 

 heads but even the stems and leaves cling to a 

 fleece. It was to protect the fine fleeces against 

 cleavers as well as against marruca and other thorns 

 that the Tarentine farmers clothed their sheep with 

 coats of hide. Greek irony stamped its clinging way 

 with the name of the philanthropic plant. With us 

 it grows mostly in hedges and waste places, but 

 Pliny notes that it was a pest in cornland. 



In both our passages it is coupled with ' tribulus,' 

 which is the star thistle_(Centaurea calcitrapa). In 

 this plant the involucral bracts end in long spines 

 capable of doing much damage, and it owes its 

 specific name to its likeness to a caltrop. The 

 spines remain when the flower has faded, and made 

 Pliny say that the plant is peculiar in that the fruit 

 as well as the flower is spinous. The plant, common 

 in Italy, occurs occasionally in southern England, 

 as on the coast round Dover. 



Flower : Lappa, April to September. 

 Tribulus, July and August. 

 Italian names : Speronella, Attacca-mani, At- 

 tacca-veste (Galium). 

 Calcatreppola, Ippofesto, 

 Ceceprete (Centaurea). 

 65 F 



