1887] History of Garden Vegetables, 321 
HISTORY OF GARDEN VEGETABLES. 
BY E. LEWIS STURTEVANT, A.M., M.D.” 
(Continued from page 133.) 
AUSTRALIAN SPINAGE (?). Chenopodium auricomum Lind. 
A NATIVE of Australia, Darling River to Carpentaria and 
Arnheim’s Land, a tall perennial herb furnishing a nutri- 
tious and palatable spinage.? It does not appear in any way su- 
perior to the Garden Orach, except, perhaps, for warm climates.3 
It is mentioned as under culture in England in 1867,4 but it has 
apparently not yet become common or general. 
Baim. Melissa officinalis L. 
This aromatic perennial, a native of the Mediterranean coun- 
tries, has long been an inmate of gardens for the sake of its 
herbage, which finds use in seasonings and in the compounding 
of liqueurs and perfumes, as well as the domestic remedy known 
as balm tea. The culture was common with the ancients, as 
Pliny 5 directs it to be planted, and as a bee plant or otherwise 
it finds mention in the Greek and Latin poets and the prose 
writers.° It is mentioned in France by Ruellius? in 15 36; in 
England by Gerarde,® 1597, who gives a most excellent figure, 
and also by Lyte? in 1586,and Ray ™ in 1686. Mawe," in 1758, 
says great quantities are cultivated about London for supplying 
the markets. In the United States it is included among garden 
vegetables by McMahon * in 1806. 
As an escape the plant is found in England,” and sparingly in 
the Eastern United States." Bertero ® found it wild on the island 
of Juan Fernandez. 
But one variety is known in our gardens, although the plant 
2 Director of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva. 
2 Mueller, Sel. Pl., 1876, 49. 3 Vilmorin, The Veg. Gard., 377. 
4 Gard. Chron., 1867, 1215. < S Pliny, lib. xxi. c. 41, 
6 Theocritus, Idyll., iv. 25; Dioscorides, iii. 118; Varro, iii. 16; Columella, ix. 
9; Virgil, Georgics, iv. ; as quoted by Grandsagne, Pliny, vol. xiii. p. 485. 
7 Ruellius, De Stirp., 1536, 733- . Gerarde, Herbal, 1597, 558. 
9 Lyte, Död., 1586, 293. _ 0 Ray, Hist., i. 570. 
31 Mawe’s Gard., 1758. 12 McMahon, Am. Gard. Kal., 1806. 
` 13 De Candolle, Geog. Bot., 681, 721. 
14 Gray, Syn. Fl. of N. A., ii., Pt. i., 361. 
