122 THE TRE"ES AND SHRUBS [LKCT. 



be inclined to identify the two plants ; but it is re- 

 markable, that Pliny afterwards states that another 

 so-called Laurel, namely, the Alexandrian, by some 

 termed the Ideean, is also designated by the name 

 Qihypoglottion, whilst Dioscorides describes the plant 

 he calls 'Idaia P/a, as having leaves like the wild 

 Myrtle, and upon them small twisted appendages 

 (e'AtAcey), from which the flower issues. 



Pliny, too, in his 27th book, c. 67, speaks of the 

 Hypoglottion exactly in the same terms as Dios- 

 corides, but he just afterwards alludes to the Idsean 

 plant, as though it were distinct from the former. 



In another place Dioscorides mentions the Alex- 

 andrian Laurel as synonymous to the C/iamcedaphne, 

 and describes it as having its fruit placed in the 

 middle of the leaf, a description which would apply 

 to the R. hypophyllum of Linnaeus, which has a 

 flower springing from the centre of the leaf like 

 the E. hypoglottion, but is destitute of that tongue- 

 shaped bractea which is characteristic of the latter. 



From the circumstance of the fruit growing from 

 the leaf, the Alexandrian Laurel is called by Pliny 

 carpophyllum. 



Nevertheless others have preferred to identify 

 the Alexandrian Laurel with the Ruscus racemosus, 

 although in that species the flowers do not spring 

 from the leaf as in the two other species. 



Perhaps, if we believe that the ancients really 

 distinguished these three species of Ruscus, we 

 may be disposed to believe with Sibthorp, that 

 the Aa^yr; 'A\cdv8peia of Dioscorides was the 



