in.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 85 



silvery down which characterizes the leaf of the 

 plant, has led to its being called argyrophylfa, and 

 to its identification with the former shrub, which 

 has consequently received from botanists the name 

 of Anthyllis Barba Jovis. 



The Anthyllis cretica, called by Sibthorp Ebenus 

 cretica, Theophrastus is supposed to allude to* 

 under the name of "EflevTj or Kurtcros". It appears 

 to be a plant of Oriental origin u . 



ONONIS. 



Sibthorp mentions one shrubby species as in- 

 digenous in Greece, namely, Ononis crispa ; but it 

 is probable that the avcovis of Theophrastus v and 

 of Dioscorides x was one of the common herbaceous 

 species probably the Rest-harrow, which goes by 

 the name of dvcoveida at present in Greece. 



Pliny describes the Ononis as a prickly plant, 

 having thorns on its branches, to which leaves are 

 attached similar to those of Rue, the stem also 

 being entirely covered with leaves, in form re- 

 sembling a garland. It comes up on land newly 

 ploughed, and is highly prejudicial to the corn, 

 being long-lived in the extreme. 



It is the Ononis antiquorum, the same as, or nearly 

 allied to, our Rest-harrow, the Ononis arvensis of 

 British botanists. 



ASTRAGALUS. 



Sibthorp mentions three shrubby species in 

 Greece, of which one, A. creticus, common in 



1 Lib. iv. 4. u Fraas. ' vi. 5. x iii. 18. 



