Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



Malva. 



' Malvaeque inulaeque virebant ' (Mor. 73). 

 Of the eight species of mallow native to Italy 

 more than one may be included under this name, 

 but it is chiefly applied to our common roadside 

 plant, Malva silvestris. The leaves of it were used 

 as a salad and a pot-herb, and were accounted 

 among the most digestible of foods. The Greeks 

 did not eat it uncooked. English children are fond 

 of the nutty unripe seeds, which from their shape 

 are called cheeses, but I know no evidence of a like 

 fondness in Italy. Horace, if the stanza be not 

 spurious, couples mallow with chicory as the food 

 of a man of simple tastes. 



Flower, March to October. 

 Italian name, Malva. 



Medica (Ge. i. 215). 



Lucern (Medicago sativa) appears to be native on 

 dry banks in the Apennines, though according to 

 Hooker it is known only in cultivation. He suggests 

 that it may be a cultivated form of M. falcata, a 

 yellow-flowered medick which has established itself 

 in East Anglia. The flower of lucern is blue or 

 purple. Its name of MijSt/cij refers to a supposed 

 Persian origin of the plant, but I do not find that 

 it occurs in Asia either wild or cultivated. It is still 

 the chief fodder crop in some parts of Italy. The 

 plant is perennial and was sometimes allowed to 

 stand for ten years. It had the further value that it 



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