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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



is first mentioned by Epicharmus, a Syracusan poet, 500 B.C. Pliny j 

 (first century) says the wild Sisarum is very like the cultivated kind," 

 and attributes certain medicinal virtues to it, equally applicable to the 

 parsnip. As an edible vegetable, Pliny says that " it had its reputation | 

 established by the Emperor Tiberius, who demanded a supply of it every i 

 year from Germany. It is at Gelduba, a fortress situate on the banks 

 of the Ehenus, that the finest are grown, from which it would appear I 

 that they thrive best in a cold climate." He then adds a feature which | 

 at once distinguishes the Siser from the modern skirret. " There is a I 

 string running through the whole length of the skirret, which is drawn 

 out after it is boiled." This string is characteristic of many wild roots, 

 but is not in the cultivated ones. Moreover, he implies a single root, i 

 not a cluster of small ones, which the true skirret of to-day has. Pliny ' 

 then proceeds: " Still, for all this [i.e. boiling it] a considerable pro- 

 portion of its natural pungency is retained. , . . The larger parsnip has | 

 also a similar string inside, but only when it is a year old." When | 

 speaking of the Pastinaca or Parsnip, he makes the same remark that I 

 after being cooked " it is found quite impossible to get rid of the pungent ' 

 flavour. ' ' 



Coming to the sixteenth century, Matthiolus, in his commentary i 

 of Dioscorides (1574), figures the modern skirret with numerous knotted } 

 roots, and leaves very like those of a parsnip, under Siser, but adds a j 

 second kind which represents the Carrot. He confesses that ** it is 

 most difficult to show what the true and legitimate Siser was." 



Dodoens (1559) had already figured the skirret as the Siser of Pliny, 

 and says it was known to the herbalists as Serulum, Seruilla, or 

 "chervil." This name perhaps arose by mistake from some re- 

 semblance of the foliage to that of the true Chervil (Cere folium). In j 

 France it was then, and still is, called " chervis." | 



Dodoens, in describing the skirret, says the leaves resemble those I 

 of the parsnip, with " seeds somewhat broad." That would apply. to i 

 the Parsnip ; but he adds, " but the Skirwirt that groweth in my garden i 

 hath a little long crooked seede." This agrees with the seed of the | 

 true skirret. He finally adds: "The roots are white, of a finger's j 

 length, divers hanging together." He thus seems to blend the parsnip i 

 with the true skirret, or Sium Sisarum. 



Lobel, in his "History of Plants " (1756), figures the skirret as , 

 having numerous tuberous roots and leaves like those of the parsnip, as 

 Sisarum, adding the Spanish name Cherivia. He describes the taste 

 as like, but more pleasant than, that of parsnips. 



Gerard (1597) figures Sisarum, and calls it " Skerrets." 



With regard to the country whence the skirret came, none of the 

 sixteenth-century herbalists appear to know. Gerard only observes that 

 it was cultivated in gardens. He seems to think it was the same plant 

 as Pliny's Sisarum or Siser, for he says : " This is that Siser, or Skirret, 

 which Tiberius commanded to be conueied vnto him from Gelduba." 



Lastly, Bauhin (1672) still regarded Sisarum as identical with the 

 Eoman plant. 



