X R. I B E I, 
‘TheTheater of Tlantes, 
HAP.I I, 
Chap. Xl. 
DiSlamnus. Dittany, PfeudodittamHitj , Baflard Dittanie. 
J35tS*S Have thought good in writing of the true Dittany,t° make mention of the Ballard kindes thereof, in 
eSgjj I^X the fame Chapter, both becaule the face of them, that is the forme and colour of the leaves are very 
j Cea lSy like, and that other good Authors doe the like, reckoning them as kindes thereof! 
i. “XtUlamnus Critical. Dittany of Candy. 
Dittany of Candy hath divers hard and brownifh , yet 
fomewhat hoary (hikes rifing from the roote, fet full of 
leaves, two (landing together one againft another, al 1 along 
the branches, which are broad and thick, and almoft round, 
fo hoary, white, and covered over with a woolly downe, 
that they have no (hew of greeneffe in them, as mod other 
hoary or woolly hearbes have, at the toppes of the branches 
come forth fcaly heads,made as it were of many thin leaves 
like unto fcales, purplifh on the outfide, and paler on the in- 
fide, from among which come forth gaping flowers, of a 
pale purplifh colour, and after them fmall brownifh feed : 
the root confifteth of many blackifh firings or fibres, from a 
harder long root: the whole hearb is of a quick or firy feent, 
efpecially if it be frefh, and likewife of a hotter tafle, being 
new, then old, for it much decayeth in keeping : this is very 
tender .and hardly to be kept a winter in thefe colder Coun¬ 
tries, fo that it feldome commeth to ihew any flower, but 
ifyoudoe tranfplant fome of the branches by flipping and 
fetting them in Augufl, they will better endure the follow¬ 
ing winter, with a little coverture, and may happen to give 
flowers the yeare following. 
a. PfeudodittammtS' Baflard Dittany. 
Baflard Dittany rifeth up much higher than the former, 
the branches are a foote and a halfe long many times, as I 
have obferved in mine owne Garden, whereon are fet fuch 
like hoary and round leaves, as the true hath, but neither fo 
thick in handling, nor fo thick fet on the branches, but more 
fparfedly, yet two alwayes together one againft another: 
from the middle of thefe branches to the toppes of them, 
come forth the flowers round about the (Hikes at the joynts 
with leaves, which are gaping like the former (and as Pen- 
ny-royall, Mints, Calamint,and divers the likehearbs have) 
ofa delayed purplifh colour,(landing in hoary huskes, after 
which come the feed,which is greater and blacker than the 
former, the root hereof is not fo black, but more hard and wooddy, (hooting downe deepe into the ground, with 
divers fprayes fpreading from it:this hearbe is fomewhat hot and lharpe.but not by halfe fo much as the former - 
this doth well endure with us in our Gardens, ifthe Winter be not too violent lharpe and long, or if there be fome 
care taken of it at fuch a time ; it groweth very well alio of rhe flips being put into rhe ground about the middle 
of Aprill, and a little defended from the heate of the Sunne,for a time after the fetting,and now and thenwatered 
inthemeanetime. 
3. PfeudodiElamnus alter ThcophraJH Ponct. Another Baflard Dittany. 
This other baflard Dittany rifeth up with many fquare hoary flalkcs more than a foote high, fet with two leaves 
at a joynt like the other, but fomewhat larger and longer, toward the toppes whereof with the leaves come forth 
hoary huskes,like unto thofe of Melijfa Molucca Uvts, the great Aflirian Bnhne, but (hallower, out of which 
(larte gaping flowers mixed ofwhite and red: the foote fpreadeth many fibres: this fmelleth reafonable fweet, 
and abideth the Winter as the other, and is in like manner encreafed by flipping. 
As for that hearbe which is called by many SDillamntts albtisy\v,& 'DiSlamntsm alburn^ and by Afatthiolus, Bauhi - 
nets and others, placed with thefe kindes o f Dittany together, although they doe all acknowledge that it hath no 
face or refcmblance unto them, and is called Fntxhulla, which hath fome divcrfitie therein, as I fhall fhew you in 
another place. 
The TUce , 
The lie of Creete or Candy hath beene thought by the cider Writers,to be the onely place in the whole world, 
where the true Dittany did grow, and that not generally through the whole lie, hut in one corner of Mount Ida, 
called which fupplyed the nfes of all parts, as Theophraftiu at large hath fet downe, in his ninth Booke, 
and fixteenth Chapter, the knowledge whereof was utterly loft, and perifhed with our fore-fathers, and but 
within a fmall fpace of time, or few yeeres fince revived and reflored to ns againe : for Cfrlonardus of Ferrara 
writeth,tharinhis'timeit was notknowne, as he fetteth it downe in his ninth Booke and third Epiflle : his 
words are thefe , TViBamr.o nifi rtirfns Venus ab ldafylva deportet omnino deficimus : but Clsijitts faith in his 
Appendix altera ( which is j'oyned with his bookes of Exoticks) that it was fignified unto him , that 
it was found alfo in the He of Sardinia ,having lefl’er and whiter leaves than that of Candy s and exceeding fweet 
D 2 with- 
