86 THE TREES AND SHRUBS [LECT. 



mountainous places, is now called Tpdya.K.av6a and 

 TerpdyKaOa. Now the former is the name applied 

 by Theophrastus to a plant growing in Crete, and 

 also in the Peloponnesus and Media, yielding the 

 Gum Tragacanth. 



Pliny notices it under the name of Tragacantha t 

 or Goat's Thorn ; the best, he says, is obtained 

 from Media and Achaia. From several species of 

 Astragalus at the present day, Gum Tragacanth is 

 extracted ; and amongst them are the creticus and 

 aristatus of Sibthorp. Lindley pronounces the 

 former to be the YloTrjpLov of Diosco rides, the latter 

 his TpdyoLKavOa?. It is probable that they were 

 often confounded. 



HEDYSARUM. 



One species of shrub belonging to this genus 

 is mentioned by Sibthorp in Greece, namely, 

 H. Alhagi. It is a plant rather of the East than 

 of Europe, Greece being probably its most western 

 locality. 



Another species of the same genus has been 

 supposed to be the OnobrycUs of Pliny 2 , but this 

 appears rather doubtful. 



LOTUS. 



This genus usually consists of herbaceous plants, 

 but Sibthorp mentions one shrubby species in 

 Greece, Lotus Dorycnium. It is not known by 

 what name this plant was distinguished in ancient 



' Bot. Reg. 1340, Misc. p. 38. Lib. xxiv. c. 98. 



