Of the Hiftorie of Plants. 
Lib. i. 
8 * 
yj The defeription. 
I Ornc of Afiabeareth a long great ftem or ftalke, couered with great leanes like the 
l great Cane reed, but much broader, and ofadarke brownifh colour towards the bot- 
tome : at the top of the ftalkes grow idle or barren tufts like the common Reed,fom- 
times ofone colour, and fometimes of another. Thofe cares which are fruitfull do grow vpon the 
{ides of the ftalkes, among the leaues, which are thicke and great, fo couered with skins or filmes, 
that a man cannot fee them vntill ripenefle haue difeoueredthem. The graine is of fundrie co- 
lours, fometimes red, and fometimes white, and yellow, as my felfe haue l'eene in rnyne owne gar- 
den, where it hath come to ripenefle. 
6 Frumentum Indicumcxruleim. 
Blew Turky wheat. 
2 The ftalke of Turky Wheat is like thatof the Reed, full offpongie pith, fet with many 
ioynts, flue or fix foot high, bigge beneath, and now and then ofa purple colour, and by little and 
little fmallaboue: the leaues are broad, long, fet with vaincs like thofe oftheReed. The eares 
on the top ol the ftalke be a fpanne long, like vnto the feather top of the common Reed , diuided 
into many plumes hanging downward, empty and barren without feed, yet blooming as Rie doth. 
The floureis either white, yellow, .or purple, that is to fay, euenas the fruit will be. The Fruit is 
contained in very bigge eares, which grow out of the ioynts of the ftalke, three or foure from one 
ftalke, orderly placed one aboue another, couered with cotes or filmes like huskesand leaues, as if 
it were a certaine {heath j out of which do ftand long and {lender beards, foft and tender,likethole 
laces that grow vpon Sauorie, but greater and longer, eucry one faftned vpon his owne feed. The 
feeds are great,of the bignefle of common peafon, cornered in that part whereby they are faftned 
to the care, and in the outward part round : being o'fcolour fometimes white, now and then yel- 
low, purple, or red ; of tafte fweet-and pleafitnt, very clofely ioyned together in eight or tenne or- 
ders or rankes. This graine hath many roots, ftrong, and full of firings. 
Theplace. 
Thefe kindes of graine were firft brought into Spaine, and then intoother prouinces of Eu- 
rope : not (as lome fuppofe) out of Afiaminor, which is the Turks Dominions , but out of Ame- 
rica and the Iflands adioyning, as out of Florida and Virginia, or Norembega, where they vfe to 
fow or fet it, and to make bread ot it, where it groweth much higher than in other countries. Iris 
planted in the gardens of thefe Northerne regions, where it commeth to ripenefle when the fom- 
nnr falleth out to be faire and hot, as my felfe haue feene by proofein myne owne garden. 
«f The 
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