122 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The Leek is the cultivated variety of A. Ampeloprasum, L., 

 common in the East and Mediterranean regions, and especially 

 Algeria. It is naturalised in England. It was well known to 

 the ancients. Pliny observed that the Emperor Nero used 

 to eat Leeks and oil to improve his voice, and that the best 

 •came from Egypt. It is usually a non-bulbous form under 

 ■cultivation ; but the ancients used to make it produce bulbs by 

 transplanting and cutting off the green tops, as described by 

 Pliny. Gerarde's figure of the Leek shows a decided tendency 

 to produce a bulb. I have found it wild and always bulbous in 

 Malta. 



Lettuce. — Lactuca Scariola, L., var. sativa, natural order 

 Composites. This is a native of South Europe, and occurs 

 from the Canary Islands to East Asia. It has lately been dis- 

 covered by Dr. E. Sickenberger in South Egypt. It also occurs 

 in many counties of England, but is a rare plant. It was 

 -cultivated as a salad by the ancients, and also used as a sedative. 

 Lettuce appears to have been the " opium " of Galen, the 

 physician who lived in a.d. 200. Theophrastus knew of three 

 varieties. From Pliny's description, he appears to have included 

 other members of the tribe Cichorecs of Composites, such as were 

 called Mecones, possibly L. virosa, L., and some species of Picris ; 

 perhaps also the Dandelion. He adds that " it is generally 

 thought that they are all of a soporific tendency," the name 

 lactuca having been given on account of the milky juice. 

 Gerarde describes eight varieties in cultivation (1597). 



Endive. — Cichorium Endivia, L., natural order Composites. 

 A. de Candolle considers it identical with C. pwnilum, Jacq., of 

 the Mediterranean region. The Endive is described by Pliny 

 more especially for its supposed medicinal qualities, and speaks 

 of two kinds, the cultivated and the wild, known as " Cichorium " 

 or " Spreading Endive." He refers to its growth in Egypt, 

 where C. Endivia still occurs wild in the fields, and is " some- 

 times cultivated."* 



There are two forms in present cultivation — the curled- 

 leaved, which was unknown to the ancients, and the broad- 

 leaved or Batavian. The " curled" appears to be first alluded 

 to by Camerarius in 1580. 



Pliny makes the remark that " the general opinion is that 



* Asch and Schweinf. Flore d'Egypte. 



