1051 The Allium cepa of Linnæus.
1052 The inhabitants of Pelusium, more particularly, were devoted to the worship of the onion. They held it, in common with garlic, in great aversion as an article of food. At Pelusium there was a temple also in which the sea-squill was worshipped.
1053 With some little variation, from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 4.
1054 Supposed to be identical with the Allium Ascalonicum of Linnæus, the chalotte. Pliny is the only writer who mentions the Alsidenian onion.
1055 To the Ascalonian onion, the scallion, or ciboul, owes its English name.
1056 Owing to the acetic acid which the bulb contains, and which acts on the membranes of the eye.
1057 “Pinguitudinis.”
1058 Fée queries whether the early white onion of Florence, the smallest now known among the cultivated kinds, may not possibly be identical with the setanian, or else the Tusculan, variety.
1059 From σχίζω, to “divide” or “tear off.”
1060 “Capitata.”
1061 For this reason, Fée is inclined to regard it as a variety either of garlic, Allium sativum, or of the chalotte, Allium Ascalonicum of Linnæus.
1062 The Allium porrum of Linnæus.
1063 This prejudice in favour of the leek, as Fée remarks, still exists. It is doubtful, however, whether its mucilage has any beneficial effect upon the voice. See B. xx. c. 21.
1064 Fée says, that it is a practice with many gardeners, more harmful than beneficial, to cut the leaves of the leek as it grows, their object being to increase the size of the stalk.
1065 Martial, B. xiii. Epig. 19, mentions the leeks of Aricia.
1066 Fée thinks that this may be the wild leek, which is commonly found as a weed in Spain.
1067 M. Annæus Mela, the brother of L. Seneca the philosopher, and the father of the poet Lucan.
1068 Though Pliny would seem inclined, as Fée says, to credit this story, the juice of the leek is in reality quite harmless.
1069 The Allium sativum of Linnæus. It was much eaten by the Roman soldiers and sailors, and by the field labourers. It is in reference to this vegetable, “more noxious than hemlock,” that Horace exclaims—
1070 It was thought to have the property of neutralizing the venom of serpents; and though persons who had just eaten of it were not allowed to enter the Temple of the Mother of the Gods, it was prescribed to those who wished to be purified and absolved from crimes. It is still held in considerable esteem in the south of Europe, where, by the lower classes, great medicinal virtues are ascribed to it.
1071 Theophrastus says, Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 4, that this is the largest of all the varieties of garlic.
1072 Second of May.
1073 Seventeenth of December.
1074 The Allium oleraceum of Linnæus.
1075 Fée refuses credence to this story.
1076 “Ursinum.” The Allium ursinum of Linnæus. Instead, however, of having the comparatively mild smell of millet, its odour is powerful; so much so, as to impart a strong flavour to the milk of the cows that eat of it. It is very common, Fée says, in nearly every part of France.
1077 The whole nearly of this Chapter is borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vii. cc. 1 and 2. It must be borne in mind that what the Romans called the “third” day would with us be the “second,” and so on; as in reckoning, they included the day reckoned from, as well as the day reckoned to.
1078 Fée remarks, that most of the observations made in this Chapter are well founded.
1079 This statement, Fée remarks, is entirely a fiction, it being impossible for seed to acquire, the second year, a faculty of germinating which it has not had in the first.
1080 This is true, but, as Fée observes, the instances might be greatly extended.
1081 Fée says that basil, the Ocimum basilicum of Linnæus, is not meant here, nor yet the leguminous plant that was known to the Romans by that name.
1082 A singular superstition truly! Theophrastus says the same in relation to cummin seed.
1083 This is not done at the present day.
1084 This can hardly be our basil, the Ocimum basilicum, for that plant is an annual.
1085 Fée suggests that Pliny may have intended here to except the Monocotyledons, for otherwise his assertion would be false.
1086 This, Fée says, cannot be basil, for when cut it will not shoot again.
1087 The radish is not mentioned in the parallel passage by Theophrastus.
1088 The lettuce, as Fée remarks, will not shoot again when cut down.
1089 This puerility, Fée observes, runs counter to the more moral adage, that “stolen goods never prosper.”
1090 See B. xi. c. 15.
1091 This variety, Fée says, is the Apium graveolens of Linnæus.
1092 Or marsh-parsley.
1093 Pliny has mistranslated, or rather misread, the passage of Theophrastus, who says, B. vii. c. 6, that this kind of parsley is μανόφυλλον, “thinly covered with leaves,” and not μονόφυλλον, “having a single leaf.” Palladius (In Aprili.) translates it, “molli folio,” “with a soft leaf;” but, though Fée commends this version, it is not correct.
1094 Or “horse-parsley.” Hardouin takes this to be Macedonian parsley, the Bubon Macedonicum of Linnæus. Fée, following C. Bauhin and Sprengel, is inclined to identify it with Macerona, the Smyrnium olusatrum of Linnæus.
1095 Or “mountain-parsley.” Probably the Athamanta oreoselinum of Linnæus. Some commentators, however, take it to be the Laserpitium formosum of Wilidenow. Sprengel identifies it with the Selinum oreoselinum of Linnæus.
1096 The Apium petroselinum, probably, of Linnæus.
1097 The Lactuca sativa of Linnæus. This account of the Greek varieties is from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 4.
1098 This, no doubt, is fabulous, and on a par with the Greek tradition that Adonis concealed himself under the leaves of a lettuce, when he was attacked and killed by the wild boar. The Coss, or Roman, lettuce, as Fée remarks, is the largest of all, and that never exceeds fifteen to twenty inches in height, leaves, stalk and all.
1099 This would seem not to be a distinct variety, as the rounded stalk is a characteristic of them all.
1100 “Sessile.” A cabbage-lettuce, probably; though Hardouin dissents from that opinion.
1101 Columella more particularly. There are still varieties known respectively as the black, brown, white, purple, red, and blood-red lettuce.
1102 Martial, B. v. Epig. 79, gives to this lettuce the epithet of “vile.”
1103 It has been suggested that this may have been wild endive, the Cichoreum intubus of botanists.
1104 Or “poppy-lettuce.” See B. xx. c. 26. The Lactuca virosa, probably, of modern botany, the milky juice of which strongly resembles opium in its effects.
1105 For its medicinal qualities, most probably.
1106 “Lac.”
1107 So called, Columella informs us, from Cæcilius Metellus, Consul A.U.C. 503.
1108 Meaning “antaphrodisiac.” The other name has a kindred meaning.
1109 A.U.C. 731.
1110 Antonius Musa. For this service he received a large sum of money, and the permission to wear a gold ring, and a statue was erected by public subscription in honour of him, near that of Æsculapius. He is supposed to be the person described by Virgil in the Æneid, B, xii. l. 390, et seq., under the name of Iapis. See B. xxix. c. 5 of this work.
1111 Vinegar and honey; a mixture very ill-adapted, as Fée observes, to preserve either the medicinal or alimentary properties of the lettuce.
1113 Endive, in fact, belongs to the same family as the lettuce.
1114 This is not the case; unless, indeed, under the name “lactuca,” Pliny would include several plants, that in reality are not lettuces.
1115 The stalk, in fact, is more intensely bitter than the leaves.
1116 “Erraticum.” Wild endive.
1117 From which comes the French “chicorée,” and our “chicory,” or “succory.”
1118 In B. xx. c. 29, and B. xxi. c. 52.
1119 The usual times for sowing the lettuce are before winter and after February.
1120 An excess of manure is injurious to the lettuce.
1121 As already stated in a previous Note (p. 179), lettuces when cut down will not grow again, with the exception of a few worthless lateral branches.
1122 From Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 4.
1123 Not the Beta sicla of modern botany, Fée thinks. The black beet of the ancients would be one of the dark purple kinds.
1124 It was only the leaf of beet, and not the root, that was eaten by the ancients. From Martial, B. xiii. Epig. 10, we learn that the leaves were preserved in a mixture of wine and pepper.
1125 Though not positively unwholesome, the leaves would form an insipid dish, that would not agree with all stomachs. Galen says that it cannot be eaten in great quantities with impunity, but Diphilus the physician, as quoted by Athenæus, B. ix. c. 3, says the reverse. Some MSS. read here “innocentiorem,” “more harmless.”
1126 Columella says the same, De Re Rust. B. xi. c. 3.
1127 Fée would seem to render this, “when wine has been spoiled by cabbage leaves being mixed with it.”
1128 De Re Rust. cc. 156, 157.
1129 In B. xx. c. 33.
1130 Or “parsley” cabbage, so called from its crisped leaves: the curled colewort, or Brassica viridis crispa of C. Bauhin.
1131 The same as our Brussels sprouts. Columella, however, B. xi. c. 3, and B. xii. c. 7, speaks of the Brassica cyma as a distinct variety of cabbage.
1132 See B. viii. c. 77.
1133 The Brassica oleracea capitata of Lamarck, and its varieties.
1134 The ordinary cabbage, or Brassica oleracea of Linnæus.
1135 A variety, Fée thinks, of the Lacuturrian cabbage.
1136 The Brassica oleracea botrytis of Linnæus, the cauliflower.
1137 Or Calabrian cabbage: it has not been identified.
1138 The Brassica oleracea Sabellica of Linnæus, or fringed cabbage.
1139 Or “Lake-towers.” The turnip-cabbage or rape-colewort, the Brassica oleracea gongyloides of Linnæus.
1140 Generally thought to be the Crambe maritima of botanists, sea-cabbage, or sea-kale. Some, however, take it to be the Convolvulus soldanella of Linnæus. See B. xx. c. 38.
1141 From ἅλς, the “sea.”
1142 He alludes to the statement made by Columella, probably, De Re Rust. B. xi. c. 3.
1143 Fée remarks, that probably we here find the first germs of the practice which resulted in the making of sour-krout (sauer-kraut). Dalechamps censures Pliny for the mention of trefoil here, the passage which he has translated speaking not of that plant, but of the trefoil or three-leaved cabbage.
1144 The same as the “chara,” probably, mentioned by Cæsar, Bell. Civ. B. iii. Hardouin thinks that it is the common parsnip, while Clusius and Cuvier would identify it with the Crambe Tatarica of Hungary, the roots of which are eaten in time of scarcity at the present day. Fée suggests that it may belong to the Brassica napo-brassica of Linnæus, the rape-colewort. See B. xx. c. 37.
1145 Or cabbage-sprout.
1146 In B. xvi. c. 67. The Asparagus officinalis of Linnæus.
1147 De Re Rust. c. 161.
1149 “Spongiis.” Fée is at a loss to know why the name “spongia” should have been given to the roots of asparagus. Probably, as Facciolati says, from their growing close and matted together. See the end of this Chapter.
1150 De Re Rust. c. 161.
1151 See B. xvii. c. 47.
1152 On the contrary, Martial says that the asparagus of Ravenna was no better than so much wild asparagus.
1154 Dioscorides mentions this absurdity, but refuses to credit it.
1155 Probably the artichoke, the Cinara scolymus of Linnæus. See further on this subject, B. xx. c. 99.
1156 About £24 sterling. “Sestertia” has been suggested, which would make the sum a thousand times as much.
1157 The ass, of course, excepted, which is fond of thistles.
1158 Seventh of March.
1159 Thirteenth of November.
1160 “Si Dîs placet.”
1161 Oxymel.
1162 This is evidently said contemptuously.
1164 Twenty-second of April.
1167 “Quod nasum torqueat.”
1168 The Ruta graveolens of Linnæus. See B. xx. c. 51. This offensive herb, though looked upon by the Romans as a vegetable, is now only regarded as an active medicament of almost poisonous qualities.
1169 A.U.C. 421.
1170 It so happens that it thrives best on the same soil as the fig-tree.
1171 This practice has no beneficial effect whatever.
1172 This is not the fact; for its branches never come in contact with the ground.
1173 Pliny has derived the greater part of this Chapter from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vii. c. 5, and Columella, B. xi. c. 3.
1174 For the purpose of separating the seeds, which are slightly joined together; and of disengaging a portion of the perisperm. At the present day this is not done, for fear of bursting the kernel of the seed.
1176 Called by the Greeks καλαμίνθη, according to Apuleius.
1177 Or “Mentha.”
1178 “Sweet-smelling.”
1182 In Hispania Tarraconensis. See B. iii. c. 4.
1184 “Horse-parsley.”
1186 Hist. Plant. B. ix. c. 1. This story originated, no doubt, in the fancied resemblance of its smell to that of myrrh.
1188 In B. xiii. c. 44.
1189 The Carum carvi of Linnæus.
1190 Caria, in Asia Minor.