1418 Of the Hiftory of Plants. Lib. 3. 
wholly, yet either in leafe or fruit, or in fome other thing. Vitis alba& nigra, that is, the white an^ 
blacke Bryonies,haue leaues and clafping tendrels as hath the common Vine, and clyme alfo afte r 
the fame manner : Vitis fylucjlrd, or the wilde Vine, hath fitch like ftalksas the Vine hath, and brin- 
geth forth fruit like to the little Grapes. Lattrus Alexandnna, and Chamedaphnc, and alfo Daphnoi- 
des, are like in leaues to the Laurell tree : S'jcomorus is like in fruit to the Fig tree, and in leaues to 
the Mulberry tree : Chamadrys hath the leafe of an Oke ,, Peucedanus of the Pine tree : fo of others 
which haue taken their names from fome other : but this low fhrub is not like the Vine either in 
any part, or in any other thing. 
This Vitis Idaa grow eth not on the vppermoft and fnowie parts of mount Ida (as fome would 
haue it, but about Ida,euen the hill Ida, not of Candy, butof Troas in the leflerAfia, which Pro- 
lomie in his fifth booke of Geographic, chajj. 3. doth call Alcxandr: Troas, or ^Aiexandtr his Troy : 
whereupon it is alfo aduifedly named of Pliny, lib. 14. cap.r,. vitis alexandnna, nootherwife than 
yMlcxandrina Lauras is faid of Tbeophrajltis to grow there ; Latins, fyrnamed Alexandnna, and Ficus 
qtudam, or a certaine Fig tree, and‘v««'. that is to fay the Vine, are reported, faith he, to grow pro- 
perly about Ida. Like vnto this Vine are thofe which Philoftratus in the life of Apollonius reporteth 
to grow in Mxonia,and Lydia,fcituated not farfrom Troy, comparing them to thofe vines which 
grow in India beyond Caucafus : 1 he Vines there, faith he, be very fmall, like as be thofe that do 
grow in Msoniaand Lydia, yet is the wine which is prefledout of them of amaruellous pleafant 
taffe. 
This Vine which growcs neere to mount Ida is reported to be Iikea fhrub, with little twigs and 
branches of the length of a cubit, about which are grapes growing aflope, blacke, of the bignes of 
abeane, fweet, hailing within a certaine winiefubftance, foft: the leafe of this is round vncut and 
little. 
This is defcribed by Pliny, lib. 14, ca/\^.almoft in the felfe fame words : It is cal led, faith he, A- 
Icxandrinx vitis, and groweth neere vnto Phalacra :it is (hort,with branches k cubit long, with a 
blacke grape of the bignes of the Latines Beane, with a foft pulpe and very little, with very fweet 
clufters growing aflope, and a little round leafe without cuts. 
And with thisdefcription the little fhrub which the Apothecaries of Germany do call Myrtil- 
lus doth nothing at all agree, as it is very manifeft ; for it is low,fcarce a cubit high, with a few lhort 
branches not growing to a cubit in length : it doth not bring forth clufters or bunches, nor yet fruit 
like vnto grapes, but berries like thofe of the Yew tree, riot fweet, but fomewhat foureand aftrin- 
gent, in which alfo there are many little white flat feeds : the leafe is not round, but more long 
than round, not like to that of the Vine, but of the Box tree. Moreouer, it is thought that this is 
not found in Italy, Greece, or in the lefTer Afia, for that Matthiolus afflrmeth the fame to grow r,o 
where but in Germanic and Bohemia 5 fo far is it from being called or accounted to be Vitis Idata 
or Alexandrian. 
The fruitof this may be thought notwithout caufe to be named Vaccinia, fith they areberries ; 
for they may be termed office,*, berries. Vaccinia, as though they fliould be called Baccinia. Yet 
this letteth not that there may be alfo other Vaccnpra’s : for Vaccinia is diStio, ot a word of di- 
ners fignifications. Virgil in the firft bookeofhis Bucolicks,£<r%.io, affirmeth,that the written 
Hyacinth is named of the Latines, Vaccinium , tranflating into Latine Theocritus his verfe which is 
taken out of his tenth Eidyl. 
Kaf 75 hr /afXcu tV/ K) dearth* tiViu »S cCj 
Virgil : 
Ft nigra Viola, fnnt& Vaccinia nigra. 
Vitruvius, lib: 7 . of his Architecture doth alfo diftinguifh Vaccinium from the Violet, and fhew- 
ethjthat of it is made a gallant purple ; which feeing that the written Hyacinth cannot do, it muft 
needs be that this V actinium is another thing than the Hyacinth is,becaufe it ferues to giue a pur- 
ple dye. r 
Pliny Mo, lib. 16. cap. 18. hath made mention of Vaccinia, which arevfcd todyebond-flaues gar- 
ments with, and to giue them a purple colour. 
But whether thefe be our V acciniaor Whortleberries it is hard toaffirme,efpecially feeing that 
Pliny reckoneth vp Vaccinia amongft thofe plants which grow in waterie places •_ but ours grow on 
high places vpon mountaines fubiedf to windes, neither is it certainly knowne to grow in Italy. 
Howfoeuer it is, thefe our Whortles may be called Vaccinia , and do agree with P limes and Vitru- 
vius his 7 accini a, becauth garments and linnen cloath may take from thefe a purple die. 
The red Whortle berries haue their name from the blacke Whortles, to which thev be in form 
very like, and are called in Latine , Vaccinia rubra : in high-Dutch , iiOOtCt l^ClDdbCCte t in 
iOvv-Dutcl',Lv 00 l!C kEtiihchcRctl t the French men, r-A urellcs P.ouges : they be named in Englifh 
Red, 
