984 History of Garden Vegetables. 
Lettuce. Lactuca sativa L. 
This, the best of all salad plants, as a culivated plant has a high 
antiquity. It is evident, by an anecdote related by Herodotus, that 
it appeared at the royal tables of the Persian kings about 550 B.C." 
The medicinal properties as a food-plant was noted by Hippocrates,’ 
430 B.C., praised by Aristotles, 356 B.C., and the species described 
by Theophrastus,‘ 322 B.c., Dioscorides,> 60 A.D., and mentioned 
by Galen,’ 164 A.D., who gives an idea of a very general use. 
Among the Romans it was very popular. Columella,’ A.D. 42, 
describes the Cæcilian, Cappadocian, Cyprian and Tartesan. Pliny,’ 
A.D. 79, enumerates the alba, Cæcilian, Cappadocian, crispa, Greca, 
Pasii. nigra, purpurea and rubens. Palladius, 210 A-D., 
implies varieties, and mentions the process of blanching. Martial,” 
A.D. 101, gives to the lettuces of Cappadocia the term wiles, Or 
cheap, baplyibe abundance. In China its presence can be identi- 
fied in the fifth century." In England, Chaucer, about 1340, uses 
the word in his prologue, “ well loved he garlic, onions and lettics,” 
and it is likewise mentioned by Turner,” in 1538, who spells the 
word Jettuse. It is mentioned as viiltivated in Tsabella Island, in 
1494, by Peter Martyr," as also in Mexico at a later date; is noted 
as abundant in Hayti in 1565, ete. 
In the report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station 
for 1885, eighty-seven varieties are fully described with 585 names 
or synonyms. Vilmorin describes, in. 1883, one hundred and 
thirteen kinds as distinct. The number of varieties named by 
various writers at various times are as follows: For France, in 
'McIntosh. Book of the Gard., ii., 5. 
Hippocrates, Cornarius ed., Paris, 1546, 113. 
3 Scaliger. De Plant. ; Arist., 1566, 63, etc. 
t Theophrastus, Bodæns ed., 1644, 761. 
5 Dioscorides, Vergelius ed., 1532, 220; Ruellius ed,, 1529, 130. 
€ Galen. De Alim, lib. ii. ; Gregorius ed., 1547, 143. 
7 Columella, lib. x., c. 181-193, 369. 
® Pliny, lib. xix., c. 38. 
° Palladius, lib. ii., c. 14; lib. iii., c. 24; lib. iv., €. 9, ete. 
i 79. 
" Bretschneider. Bot. Sin., 78. 
18 Turner. Libellus, 1538. 
1'3 Edens Hist. of Trav., 1577. 
“ Benzoni. Hist. of the she World, Smythe ed., 1857. 
* Vilmorin. Les Pl. Pot., 
