i6o 
James Small. 
are described as “ all thistle-like plants ” it seems tolerably certain 
that in addition to Cichorieae and Cynarese this perspicacious 
Greek recognised the Compositae as a class. The only other large 
obviously natural family which corresponds to this definition is the 
Umbelliferse and this was separated as the Ferulacese. 
Dioscorides. Circa A.D. 65. 
According to Smith’s Classical Dictionary, Pedacius Dioscorides 
probably lived in the second century A.D., but Burgess (16) gives 
evidence for a date about 65 A.D. for the writings of this author; 
Adanson (1) gives 50 A.D. as the date. The variations in the 
different editions of his Materia Medica are notorious but as early 
as 1555 the grouping of Sonchus, Cichorium, and Chondrilla by 
Dioscorides was amplified in the annotations of a Castillean edition 
by Dr. Andres de Laguna (23) who noted the similarity to the above- 
mentioned genera of Scariola, Picris and Taraxacum. 
In the edition of 1598 by Bauhin of Matthioli’s Dioscorides (24) 
other groupings of Composites are to be noticed, thus Lib. Ill, 
Cap. XIX, deals with Leucantha , identified as Carduus Maries by 
Bauhin and the subject of Cap. XXI is identified with Carduus 
stellatus. Chapter 109 of the same book deals with Tussilago 
Farfara , 110 and 111 with forms of Artemisia and 112 with Ambrosia ; 
similarly Authemis, Parthenium (=Matricaria) and Buphthalmum 
(Beilis , according to Bauhin) are dealt with in chapters 137-139. It 
is possible that this grouping of Authemis and Matricaria forms the 
first indication of the Anthemidese and this is rendered more probable 
by the development of the group by Brunfels. 
16th Century. 
Following upon Dioscorides comes a gap in the history of 
botany in general of about fifteen centuries. During the 16th 
century various commentators on Dioscorides, such as Brunfels (15), 
Valerius Cordus (20) and Fuchs (31) established and extended the 
Anthemidese while retaining the Cichorieae and Cynarese. Lobel (60) 
extended these three groups and classed a few genera of the Asterese 
together. Caesalpino (17) was the first to group the Compositse 
as a whole. His “ Herbaceae pluribus seminibus ” are divided into 
the “Anthemidese” and “ Cichoraceae aut Acanaceae.” The 
“ Anthemidese,” however, include all the Composites not in the 
Cynareae or Cichorieae, while the Anthemidese as recognised by the 
earlier writers is considerably obscured. 
17th Century. 
Bauhin (6) fails to recognise the Compositse as a family but 
retained the groups previously recognised, i.e., the Cichorieae, 
