THE DOUBLE STOCK, ITS HISTORY AND BEHAVIOUR. 45 1 



form, we have, so far as I know, no precise record. The single Stock 

 has been cultivated in gardens for probably a far longer period than 

 we are able to trace with certainty. If, working backwards, we 

 search through the works of the herbalists of medieval times, we 

 find that already in the sixteenth century they were quite famihar 

 with the three chief colour forms — purple, red, and white. In the 

 beautiful herbal of FucHS,* which appeared in 1542, these three strains 

 are all figured, being referred to under the names of Viola matronalis 

 purpurea, punicea, and alba respectively. In Ruellius' work, 

 however, which appeared only a few years earher, there is no 

 mention of the red form.f Under the names Leucoion or Viola 

 alba we find the flowers described as either purple or white. 

 For at this time, it will be recalled, the present name Matthiola 

 was not in existence. It was bestowed on the Stock family at a 

 much later date (1812) by Robert Brown % in honour of the cele- 

 brated ItaHan physician and botanist Pierandrea Mattioli (1501- 

 1577). It must be remembered that in the past plants were studied 

 almost solely for their supposed medicinal properties, and hence it 

 is to the works of the physicians of the day that we must turn for 

 our botanical information. By Fuchs, Mattioli, and their con- 

 temporaries we are referred back through the centuries direct to 

 the famous work of Dioscorides — the "Materia Medica " — which is 

 supposed to have been written in the first century of the Christian 

 era. These writers are generally agreed in identifying both the 

 Stock and the Wallflower as among the plants included by Dioscorides 

 under the name Leucoion, 



The well-known manuscript copy of Dioscorides' work which 

 was made, it is supposed, in the fifth or sixth century and is now 

 preserved at Vienna, is illustrated by brush drawings, and there is 

 little doubt that the one accompanying the text referring to Leucoion 

 is intended to represent the single form of either Matthiola incana 

 or Cheiranthus Cheiri. In the text mention is made of white as well 

 as yellow and purple flowers, so that we may suppose that even at 

 this time the white variety of Matthiola incana was already known ; 

 the red form we may conclude, on the other hand, had not yet made 

 its appearance. We are further told that the Stock was especially 

 cultivated by the Greek and Roman matrons for its supposed medicinal 

 properties, though the Wallflower was in more general use for medical 

 purposes. 



It is not necessary to state that in these early times there was no 

 clear idea of relationship. Such a conception would not have been 



* De historia stirpium. 



t De natura stirpuim libvi fres, 1536. The colour yellow is given as well, but 

 the reference here is to the Wallflower, then also included under the name 

 Viola. 



t Hort. Kew. Ait. ed. 2, vol. iv. 1812. (The Cruciferae are included in the 

 latter part of this volume, for which section of the work it is supposed that R. 

 Brown was responsible.) 



