""""FiCs^so""'  }     Ervum  Ervilia,  tke  Bitter  Vetch.  97 
bean,  because  that  is  the  only  legume  of  which  men  eat  the  pods  and 
seeds  together.  It  is  even  suggested  that  it  may  be  Dolichos.  He  says- 
that  Brasevolus  believes  Ervilia  to  be  the  legitimate  Ervum,  but  the 
more  general  testimony  appears  to  be  that  it  was  a  different  plant,  known 
to  the  Greeks  as  Ochros.  One  species  of  Orobus  is  spoken  of  as  Orobus 
semine  obtuso  triangulo^^  and  this  answers  well  to  our  bitter  vetch. 
An  inceresting  clue  to  the  name  Ervum  is  given.  "^«o^  verh 
Erbum  Avicennce  [Orobon  Graci  appellant  nos  Ervum)."  I  may  say  that 
it  appears  to  me  that  the  name  Rovi  is  also  clearly  derived  and 
descended  from  Orobus,  it  being  probably  grown  on  some  shores  of 
the  Greek  Archipelago.  Whilst  this  note  has  been  passing  through 
the  press  my  attention  has  been  called  to  the  "Gardeners'  Chronicle" 
of  December  13,  where  it  is  mentioned  that  Dr.  Whittmack  recently- 
exhibited  some  carbonized  leguminous  seeds,  disinterred  in  the  ruins  of 
Troy  by  Dr.  Schliemann,  which,  on  careful  examination,  proved  to  be 
the  seeds  of  Ervum  ervilia. 
A  hundred  years  further  back  than  Bauhinus,  we  meet  with  a  men- 
tion of  Ervum  in  the  works  of  our  first  English  botanist  of  repute,^ 
William  Turner,  155 1,  printed  in  black  letter,  with  beautiful  plates. 
He  says:  "Bitter  fiche  burdeneth  the  hede  mych,  the  same  eaten 
troubleth  the  belly.  It  draweth  out  bloude  by  the  water.  This  pulse 
well  sodden  maketh  oxen  fatt.  Ervum  helpeth  a  ma  to  pis  well.  The 
same  maketh  a  man  haue  a  good  colour."  He  is  exercised  as  to  the 
identity  of  the  plant;  scolds  Fuchsius  for  misleading  him,  and  gives  for 
his  engravings  a  species  of  Lathyrus.^  which  he  calls  Orobus  Sylvestre. 
We  now  get  back  to  the  ancients.  I  have  not  Galen  to  refer  to. 
Celsus^  mentions  both  Lenticula  and  Ervum,  and  his  editor.  Dr. 
Milligan  notes  the  first  to  be  Ervi  lentis^  L.,  varietas  major^  the  second 
Ervum  lens.,  L.;  but  if  the  Latin  "Ervum"  be  the  same  as  the  Greek 
"Orobus,"  this  would  be  incorrect.  Pliny ,^  writing  soon  after,  men- 
tions the  twenty  virtues  ascribed  to  it,  including  its  curing  the  bite  of 
serpents — and  of  men — and  also  adds  that  if  sown  in  March  it  is  inju- 
rious to  oxen,  if  in  autumn  it  produces  headache,  but  if  sown  in  early 
spring  it  produces  no  bad  results;  but  Pliny  does  not  discriminate  his 
facts.    Dr.  Bostock,  his  editor  (Bohn's  edition),  says  in  a  note  that  the 
New  Herball,"  W.  Turner,  1551,  sheet  p.  iii. 
'-'"A.  Com.  Celsi  Medicinas,"  etc.,  1831,  p.  197. 
Natural  History  of  Pliny,"  Bohn,  1856,  vol.  iv,  pp.  51-451. 
7 
