iv.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 123 



R. hypoglottion, Xa/xeu&x^f?; the R. hypophyllum, 

 Mvpalvr] aypia the R. aculeatus. 



An old botanist of the sixteenth century, Fabius 

 Colonna, in his work entitled 3>vro/3a(rai>o?, Neapoli, 

 1592, first pointed out the resemblance between 

 the Radix Idcea and the Ruscus hypoglossum, of 

 which latter he gives a correct drawing. 



Other varieties are also mentioned, which it is 

 not easy to identify, but amongst them does not 

 occur that which is the commonest of any at the 

 present day, using the term Laurel in its popular 

 sense, namely, the Cerasus laurocerasus, or Laurel 

 Cherry, this appearing to have been unknown to 

 the ancients, .having been introduced into Europe 

 from Trebizond in 1576, by Clusius, under diffi- 

 culties nearly as great as those stated in page 34, 

 with respect to the Cedar of Lebanon d . 



OSYRIS. 



This Osyris alba is common in the south of 

 Europe, and is noticed by Sibthorp as occurring in 

 Greece. It is probably described by Dioscorides 6 

 under the name of ccru/ny, and by Pliny f under 

 that of Osyris. It has been considered the casia of 

 the Poets, but this, as we have seen, was more 

 probably Daphne gnidium. 



El^EAGNUS. 



Elceagnus angustifolia is mentioned by Sibthorp 

 amongst the shrubs indigenous in Greece, and 



d See London's Arboretum, vol. ii. p. 717. 

 M. M. iv. 141. f Lib. xxvii. c. 88. 



