982 History of Garden Vegetables. 
Lavender is called in France lavande, aspic, lavande femelle ; in 
Germany, lavendel, spike; in Flanders, lavendel; in Denmark, 
lavendel ; in Italy, lavanda ; in Spain, espliego.? 
Lavandula spica L., a more southern species, is confounded with 
the above in cultivation, and is also cultivated on a large scale for 
purposes of distillation. Mawe, in 1778, named four varieties, the 
narrow-leaved with blue flowers, the narrow-leaved with white 
flowers, the broad-leaved and the Dwarf. 
Leek. Allium porrum L. 
This vegetable was the prasun of the ancient Greeks, the porrwm 
of the Romans, who distinguished two kinds, the capitatum, or 
leek, and the sectilis, or chives, perhaps, although Columella,’ 
Pliny* and Palladius* indicate these as forms of the same plant 
brought about through difference of culture, the chive-like form 
being produced by thick planting. They seem to have been very 
popular at Rome. In Europe the leek was generally known 
throughout the middle ages, and in the earlier botanies some of the 
figures of the leek represent the two kinds of planting alluded to 
by the Roman writers. In England, in 1726, Townsend? says that 
“leeks are mightily used in the kitchen for broths and sauces.” 
When they reached America I do not find recorded, but prior to 
1775 they were grown at Mobile, Ala., and were cultivated by the 
Choctaw Indians.° : 
The leek may vary considerably by culture, and often attains 
quite a large size; one with the blanched portion a foot long and 
nine inches in circumference, and the leaf fifteen inches in breadth 
and three feet in length, has been recorded.’ Vilmorin® described 
eight varieties in 1883, but some of these are scarcely distinct. 
The leek, or porret, is called in France poireau, poiree, poirette, 
porreau; in Flanders and Holland, prei; in Germany, lauch, por- 
1 Vilmorin. Les Pl. Pot., 1883, 318. 
2 Columella. Lib. ii., c. 8. 
$ Pliny. Lib. xix., ¢. 34. 
t Palladius. Lib, iii., €. 24. 
6 Townsend, 1728, 37. 
t Romans. Nat. Hist. of Fla., i., 115. 84. 
1 Gard. Chron., Nov. 6, 1886, 599. 
8 Les Pl. Pot., 1883, 416. 
° Ray. Hist., 1688, 1126, 
