OUR COMMON VEGETABLES. 



125 



Pea * having nothing to do with Egypt. The Pea was probably 

 cultivated in England early in the sixteenth century, as Gerarde 

 figures and describes it. 



Cucumber. — Cucumis sativus, L., natural order Cucurbitacece. 

 The origin of this plant is now thought to be C. Hardwickii, 

 Royle.t This is wild from Kumaon to Sikkim. It has been 

 cultivated in India for 3,000 years, and introduced into China 

 200 b.c. The ancient Greeks cultivated it under the name of 

 Siktoos. The " Cucumber " mentioned in Numbers xi. 5 appears 

 by the name in Hebrew to have been some other plant ; no trace 

 has yet been found of the Cucumber in ancient Egypt. The 

 writer of the article in the Treasury of Botany says : "They 

 were known in England in the time of Edward III. (1327), but 

 subsequently neglected until the reign of Henry VIII." Gerarde 

 describes and figures several kinds of " Cucumbers," but that of 

 the " common," presumably the true Cucumber, has short fruits 

 more resembling Gherkins, though he describes it as " long, 

 cornered, rough, and set with certain bumpes or risings." 

 Cucumbers were grown in Pliny's time, but he appears to mix 

 up Gourds and Melons with them. He speaks of one accident- 

 ally appearing in the shape of a Quince, called " Melopepo " ; 

 and " it was from the seed of this that all the others have been 

 reproduced." He also knew of Cucumbers without seed. 



Vegetable Marrow. — Gucurbita ovifera, L., is believed to 

 be a cultivated variety of G. Pepo, the Pumpkin. This species 

 has been supposed indigenous to Southern Asia and America. 

 The question, however, as De Candolle observes, requires careful 

 investigation. The nearest to C. ovifera appears to be C. texana, 

 found growing by Lindheimer " on the edges of thickets by the 

 Guadaloupe, apparently an indigenous plant." £ This may have 

 originated the Vegetable Marrow. Gerarde's figure of Cucumis 

 ex Hispanico semine natus, or Spanish Cucumber, might very 

 well represent the Vegetable Marrow. 



Tomato. — Ly coper sicum esculentum, L., natural order Sola- 



* The Mummy Pea was " sent out " by Mr. Grimstone as a new Pea 

 about 1840, accompanied with the story that it had been found in a 

 mummy case. It is a " fasciated " form, and as there is both a white and 

 a purple-grey variety, it is suggestive of having been a cross between 

 Pisitm arvense and P. sativum. The reader will find it described in the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, 1847, p. 542 ; 1849, p. 115 ; and 1873, p. 44. 



f III. of Him. PI. p. 220, pi. 47 ; cf . Bot. Mag. 6206. 



% A. de Candolle, Origin of Cult. Plants, p. 265. 



