iv.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 131 



hexandrous plant resembling the Lily, and perhaps, 

 as Tenore conjectured, the Gladiolus lyzantinus. 



The plates also assist us in recognising Dios- 

 corides' (JIKVS dyptos, which was the Momordica 

 elaterium, or Squirting Cucumber, of the south of 

 Europe ; the Currant Grape, as already noticed ; 

 the plant called by Dioscorides 'A/iyuomaKOf, which 

 was perhaps the Ferula orientalis, and certainly 

 an umbelliferous plant ; the (J)vora\\s, which from 

 the drawing would seem to have been the Physalis 

 alkeJcengi, although Sibthorp has chosen to identify 

 the latter with the crrpvyvos dXiKaKaftos of Dios- 

 corides, but the plate of which bears more re- 

 semblance to the Physalis somnifera described 

 by him. 



I might also appeal to the engravings of the 

 KaTTTrapiy, or Caper plant ; of the different species 

 of fJir]KG3v , Poppy; of the aftiavrov, or Maiden's Hair 

 Fern ; of the Ivy, KKTCTOS ; of the larger House- 

 leek, aeitjcoov TO /JLeya ; of the dcifyoov TO /JLiKpois, 

 the Sedum ochroleucum of modern botanists ; of the 

 Aloe vulgaris, aXorj ; of the dpKevQo?, or Juniper, 

 as sufficiently resembling nature to enable us to 

 determine at a glance the plant referred to. 



In many instances, however, it must be confessed 

 that the artist has shewn his ignorance of the object 

 intended, by having drawn entirely from his own 

 imagination the figure with which he has pre- 

 sented us. 



Hence, in spite of these aids, we are often left 

 in doubt as to the plant which the naturalists of 



K2 



