in.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 91 



alludes under the name of Myrice, stating that 

 some persons call it Tamarix ; but it is probable, 

 as Fee says, that several species of Tamarisk were 

 comprehended by the ancients under this title. 



Sibthorp has identified this plant with the M.vpiKrj 

 of Dioscorides k ; Pliny, however, states that the 

 Myrice is also known as the Erica, and this agrees 

 pretty well with the drawing of the plant given 

 in the Vienna MS. 



Dumolin concludes, that it was employed as 

 a generic term for any kind of Heath, and was only 

 applied to the Tamarisk because the ancients con- 

 founded the latter with that description of shrub. 



RIBES. 



Both the rough and smooth-skinned Gooseberry 

 occur in the mountains of Greece (Sibthorp), and 

 in addition to these the Black and Red Currant, 

 and the R. petrceum or Rock Currant, in Italy; 

 but it is curious that no such plant has been 

 noticed by the writers of antiquity, and the name 

 itself is derived from an acidulous vegetable men- 

 tioned by the Arabian physicians, and now believed 

 to be a kind of Rhubarb. 



BUPLEURUM. 



Two shrubby species are noticed by Sibthorp in 

 Greece, viz. B.fruticosum, and B. Sibthorpianum, the 

 former of which he identifies with the SecreAt aWlo- 

 TTLKOV of Dioscorides. 



k Lib. i. c. 105. 



