1891 - Stachys to Tomato - Sturtevant's HISTORY OF GARDEN VEGETABLES

 (Continued from page 744, Vol. XXIV., 1890.) 

 Original - https://archive.org/details/jstor-2451697

Remember, to see the footnotes to find the books Sturtevant used, go to the link above.  

And when I insert my two cents into Sturtevant's text I try to remember to do it in red type.

Fall has been really busy in the elementary school I teach in as an art teacher.  I was moved to a cart for teaching last year and, while I have my moves down now, it takes much more physical energy and time to deliver the lessons...lately sleeping has been higher on my "to do" list than blogging!!  I still want to finish this series in 2016 though :-)

Stachys. Stachys affinis Vil. 

THIS plant was introduced into cultivation by Messrs. 
Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie, in 1886. 

The roots are thick and fleshy, and are called useful for pickles, and may be used fried.   According to Bretschneider, the roots were eaten as a vegetable in China in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, and are described as a cultivated vegetable by Chinese writings of 1640 and 1742.

It is used as a cultivated vegetable in Japan, and is called choro-gi, and, as Mr. Tamari tells me, it is esteemed.  Pickled the white roots become red.     


Mother Earth News has a slideshow about it.

 

Sugar Beet. Beta vulgaris var. 

 These are selected forms from the common beet, and scarcely deserve a separate classification. Those figured by Vilmorin are all of the type of the half-long red, agree in being mostly underground, and in being very or quite scaly about the collar. 

The sugar beet has been developed through selection of the roots richest in sugar for seed-bearers. 
The sugar-beet industry was born in France in 1811, and in 1826 the product of the crop was 1,500 tons of sugar.   The formation of the "sugar beet" could not, then, have preceded 1811; yet in 1824 five varieties, the grosse rouge, petite rouge, rouge ronde, jaune, and blanche, are noted, and the French sugar or amber reached American gardens before 1828.  A richness of from sixteen to eighteen per cent, of sugar is now claimed for Vilmorin's new improved white sugar beet. 

The names assigned by Vilmorin to the sugar beet are:

• France, betteraves a sucre; 
• Germany, zucker-rube ; 
• Flanders and Holland, suiker-wortel ; 
• Spain, remolacha de azucar, betabel de azucar ; 
• Portugal, betarava branca d'assucar.

 The discovery of sugar in the beet is credited to Margraff in 1747, announced in a memoir read before the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

 All these images are from Sugar beet seed, history and development, by Truman G. Palmer .

Sweet Cicely.  Myrrhis odorata Scop.

 This aromatic herb can scarcely be considered as an inmate of American gardens, although recorded by Burr in 1863. It has also fallen into disuse in Europe, although yet retained by Vilmorin among garden vegetables. 

In 1597 Gerarde says the leaves are 

 "exceeding good, holsom, and pleasant among other sallade herbes, giving the taste of anise unto the rest." 

In 1778 Mawe records that it is used rarely in England. Pliny seems to refer to its use in ancient Rome, under the name anthriscus. It finds notice in most of the early botanies. 

Sweet cicely or sweet-scented chervil or sweet fern is called:

• in France, cerfeuil musque, cerfeuil d' Espagne , cerfeuil anise, cicutaire odorante, fougere musquee, myrrhide odorante, persil d'ane de Lobel ; 
• in Germany, grosser spanischer woldriechender kerbel ; 
• in Flanders, spaansche kervel ; 
• in Denmark, spansk kjorvel ; 
• in Italy, finocchiella or mirride. 

Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leyden, The Netherlands

Sweet Marjoram. Origanum sp. 

But two species are enumerated by Vilmorin for European culture, but several other species were formerly grown. The leaves of all are used for seasoning. 

 

Valentini, MB, Viridarium Reformatorum (1719)

Origanum vulgare L. 

This aromatic herb, a native of Europe, has become naturalized sparingly in the Atlantic states, and is quite variable, affording a dwarf variety to culture. It is supposed to be the Cunila bubula of Pliny, and the Origanum of Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century. 

It is not, however, indicated as cultivated. 

 It is called "English wilde marjerome" by Gerarde  in 1597, and "wild marjoram" by Ray in 1686, who describes also the dwarf variety.

Hortus Romanus juxta Systema
 Tournefortianum(1783-1816)

It is mentioned as cultivated by Mawe in 1778, but not by Bryant in 1783, although a hundred years earlier Meager gives the English name of "pot or wild marjoram" to one of the cultivated varieties, and includes also the "pide", which is probably the variety with variegated foliage mentioned by Burr, who enumerates this species among American garden plants.  Its culture is also mentioned by Worlidge in 1683, who enumerates the partly colored and the white varieties. 

 Common marjoram, pot marjoram, or perennial marjoram is called:

• in France, marjolaine vivace ; 
• in Germany, winter-marjoram ; 
• in Flanders, orego ; 
• in Denmark, merian ; 
• in France also, origan ; 
• in Germany, dosten ; 
• in Italy, regamo or origano ; 
• in Greece, rigani or riganon ; 
• in Telinga, mridu-maruvamu 

Origanum majorana L. 

Zorn, J., Oskamp,  - 1796

 This is the species usually present in the herb-garden. It is supposed to be the amaracus of Pliny, who speaks of it as cultivated.  It is also the marjorana of Albertus Magnus  in the thirteenth century, and is mentioned as cultivated in the early botanies. 

Its modern culture is quite extended, and at Bombay it is considered sacred to Siva and Vishnu. It is said to have reached Britain in 1573, and was a well-known inmate in American gardens in 1806. 

 Sweet marjoram, knotted marjoram, or annual marjoram is called

• in France, marjolaine a coquille 
• in Germany, majoran, franzosischer majoran ;
• in Flanders and Holland, marjolijn;
• in Italy, maggiorana ;
• in Spain, mejorana, almoraduj ;
• in Portugal, manjerona ;
• in Norway, merian ;
• in Greece, masouran, mantziourana ;
• in Egypt and Yemen, mardakusj;
• in Hindustani, marzanjosh, marwa, nazbo;
• in Arabic, mirzunjoosh, marda- kusch;
• in the Deccan, murwa ;
• in Tamil, marroo;
• in the Mauritius, marjolaine

Flora Graeca - 1826

Origanum onites L. 

Pliny speaks of this species as called onitin or prasion in the first century, but its introduction to Britain is said to have taken place in 1759. 
It was in American gardens in 1806, but does not appear to have been much cultivated, although recorded by Burr in 1863.

Its name does not now occur in our seed-lists, as it is inferior to the preceding variety. This species has been called pot marjoram, a name which has been applied to the O. vulgare.

Flora Graeca,  (1826)

Origanum heracleoticum L.

 This species has been identified with the Cunila gallinacea of Pliny.

It is mentioned in the early botanies, and is said to have reached England in 1640, and is recorded in American gardens in 1806. It finds mention by Burr in 1863, but seems now to have disappeared from our seed-lists.

 It is frequently mentioned by early garden writers under the name of winter sweet marjoram, and has a variegated variety.

Sweet Potato. Convolvulus batatas L. 

This widely distributed cultivated plant, originally of South and Central America, had developed many varieties at the period of its discovery by Columbus. Peter Martyr in his second decade, written about 1514, mentions batatas as cultivated in Honduras, and in his third decade he gives the names of nine varieties. 

 In 1526 Oviedo not only mentions sweet potatoes in the West Indies, but says they have often been carried to Spain, and that he had carried them himself to Avila, in Castile. 

 In Peru, Garcilasso de Vega says the "apichu" are of four or five different colors, some red, others yellow, others white, and others brown, and this author was contemporary with the conquest. The "camote" of Yucatan, called in the islands axi and batatas, is mentioned in the fourth voyage of Columbus, and Chanca, physician to the fleet of Columbus, in a letter dated 1494, speaks of ages as among the productions of Hispaniola. 

 In Europe, sweet potatoes are mentioned by Cardan  in 1556, and Clusius, in 1566, describes the red or purple and the pale or white sorts as under culture in Spain, and in 1576 he notes that their culture had been attempted in Belgium. Their mention hereafter in the early botanies are frequent. 

Their culture is noted for Virginia before 1650. In 1750 Hughes  says that at least thirteen sorts are known at the Barbadoes, and Wilkes notes that in the Hawaiian Islands, where the sweet potato had been introduced, there are thirty-three varieties, nineteen of which are of a red color and thirteen white. 

On the Mauritius, Bojer describes the round and long forms, white and purple. At the present time Vilmorin describes two varieties in France, and in 1863 Burr describes nine varieties as in American gardens. Of the varieties now known to me, not one type can be considered as modern in its appearance.

 The sweet potato is called:

• in France, potate douce, batate, artichaut des Indes, truffe douce;
• in Italy, patata ;
• in Spain and Portugal, batata.

Other names have been, in English, in 1597, potatoes, potatus, and potades (Ger.); by Clusius, 1576, batatas, camotes, amotes, and ajes. 

 Native American names are,

• in Peru, apichu (Piso. de Vega) ;
• at Quito, cumar (Markham);
• in Brazil, jetica (Piso. Marcg.), jettiki (Hans Stade) ;
• by the Portuguese in Brazil, batata (Marcg.), patattes (Nieuhoff ) ;
• in Mexico, camote (Unger) ;
• in Carib, maby (Descourt.) ;
• in Tupi, hetich (Gray) ;
• in Tupi-Guarani, yeti (Gray) ;
• in Yucatan, camote (Port. Voy.) ;
• in Choctaw, ahe (Gray).
   Other names are,
• in New Zealand and Otaheite, cumala (Cook) ;
• in New Zealand, kumara (Wilkes) ;
• in Malay, ubitora ;
• Javanese, ubi;
• Chinese, at Batavia, hantsoa (Nieuhoff);
• Central Africa, veeazee (Grant) ;
• East Africa, in Wanika-land, fiasi (Krapf.) ;
• in the Soudan, dankali, doukali (Heuze).
• In India, shukar-kundo (Firm.) ;
• in Bengali, shukar-kundoo-aloo ;
• in Telinga, chillagada, grasugada (Drury) ;
• in Hindustani, pendaloo ;
• in Tamil, sukkaray-vullie;
• in Ceylon, batala ;
• in Persian, zardak-lahori ;
• in Malay, batatas (Birdwood) ;
• in Japan, imo, kara imo (Thunb.).

Tansy. Tanacetum vulgare L. 

 Tansy is still included in the herb-garden as a condimental and medicinal herb, yet it is very little grown, the wild plant usually sufficing for all purposes, and it very readily becomes an escape, thriving in out-of-the-way places without culture. 

It was formerly in greater esteem than at present.

 In 1633 Gerarde says: 

"In the spring-time are made with the leaves hereof newly sprung up, and with egs, cakes, or tansies, which be pleasant in taste, and good for the stomacke."    

 In 1778 Mawe says:

 "This herb for its economical uses in the kitchen and medicine merits culture in every garden," 

and names for varieties the plain-leaved, the curled-leaved, the variegated-leaved, and the scentless. 


 Both the common and the curled are figured by Dodonseus in 1616, and are mentioned in other botanies of this period. 

It was in American gardens before 1806. 


 Tansy  or tansie  is called :

• in France, tanaisie, barbotine, herbe amere, herbe aux vers, tanacee ;
• in Germany, gemeiner rainfarn, revierblume, wurmkraut ;
• in Denmark, reinfang ;
• in Italy, atanasia, tanaceto, erba santa-maria ;
• in Spain, tanaceto

Tarragon. Artemisia dracunculus L. 

 This plant, widely spread over South Russia, was brought to Italy, probably from the shores of the Black Sea, in more recent times. The first mention on record is by Simon Seth, in the middle of the twelfth century, but it appears to have been scarcely known as a condiment till the sixteenth century. 

 The leaves make an excellent pickle, and are sometimes used in soups and salads. 

The flowers, as Vilmorin says, are always barren, so the plant can only be propagated by division. Its culture is mentioned by the botanists of the sixteenth century, and in England by Gerarde in 1597, and by succeeding authors on gardening. Rauwolf, 1573-75, found it in the gardens of Tripoli. In America it is mentioned by McMahon in 1806. 

 Tarragon is called:

• in France, estragon, absinthe estragon, dragonne, fargon, herbe dragon, serpentine, torgon ;
• in Germany, dragon, bertram, esdragon, schlangenkraut ;
• in Flanders and Poland, dragonkruid ;
• in Denmark, estragon, kaisersalat ;
• in Italy, dragoncello, targone, serpentaria ;
• in Spain, estragon ;
• in Portugal, estragas.

Thyme. Thymus vulgaris L.

 A plant native to the southern countries of Europe, and which has been long cultivated in more northern countries. In English culture it is recorded about 1548, and it is mentioned by Gerarde in 1597, and succeeding authors. 
It succeeds as an annual even in Iceland, and is recorded as grown in the tropical gardens of the Mauritius.  

Three varieties are known:
the narrow-leaved, Thymus vulgaris, tenuiore folio of Bauhin, 1596; 
the broad-leaved, Thymus vulgaris, latiore folio of Bauhin; 1596; 
 and the variegated, Thymus variegato folio of Tournefort, and also mentioned by Bauhin in 1623. 

It was known in American gardens in 1806  or earlier, and the broad-leaved kind is the one now principally grown in the herb-garden for use in seasonings. 

 The common, French, or narrow-leaved thyme is called:

• in France, thyme ordinaire , faligoide , farigoide, frigoule , mignotese du Genevois, pote, poidlleux ;
• in Germany, franzosischer thymian ;
• in Flanders, thijmus ;
• in Holland, tijm ;
• in Denmark, thimian ;
• in Italy, timo, pepolino ;
• in Spain, tomillo ;
• in Portugal, tomilho ;
• in Norway, timian ;
• in Arabic, hasha ;
• in Hindustani, ipar ;
• in India, espar

Thymus serpyllum L. 

This is a very variable plant, occurring wild in Europe, and sparingly naturalized in some localities in Northeastern America. In 1726 Townsend speaks of it in English gardens, but not as a pot-herb; but it is placed among American pot-herbs by McMahon in 1806. At the present time it is occasionally used for seasoning in England. 
In Iceland it is used to give an agreeable flavor to sour milk. 

 Wild thyme or mother of thyme is called also

• in Britain, fell-a-mountain ;
• in France, serpolet ;
• in Germany, qtiendel ;
• in Italy, sermollino, selvatico, serpillo;
• in Yemen, saater

Thymus citriodorus Pers. 

 This plant is considered by many botanists as but a variety of the preceding. It was described by Bauhin in 1623, and was in American gardens in 1806. 

The odor of the leaves is quite agreeable, and it is thought to be a desirable seasoning for veal. Lemon thyme is the thyme citronne of the French.

Tomato. Lycopersicum sp. 

 The earliest mention I find of tomatoes is by Matthiolus in 1554, who calls them pomi d'oro, and says they have but recently appeared [in Italy]. In 1570, Pena and Lobel  give the name gold apple in the German, Belgian, French, and English languages, which indicates their presence in those countries at this date. 

 In 1578 Lyte says in England they are only grown in the gardens of "Herboristes".  Camerarius in his Epitome, 1586, gives the French name of pommes d'amours, (below) which corresponds to Lyte's amorous apples; and in his Hortus Medicus, 1588, gives the names as pomum Indum, and the foreign name of tumatle ex Peruviana; but Guilandinus of Padua in 1572 had the name tumatle americanorum, and Anguillara in 1561 names them poma Peruviana.  In Hernandez's history of Nova Hispania, 1651, he has a chapter on the tomatl; which includes our tomatoes and alkekengis, and in 1658 the Portugese of Java used the word tomatas. Acosta, however, preceding 1604, used the word tomates, and Sloane, in 1695, tomato.   

Both the yellow and the red-fruited are named by Matthiolus in 1554, but the prevalence of the name golden apple in the various languages would indicate that this was the color most generally distributed. The shades are given as golden by Matthiolus 1554, ocher yellow by J. Bauhin in 1651, and deep orange by Bryant in 1783. 

I give only the first authors when the color is mentioned, and do not follow with succeeding authors, who are many. 

• The red color is noted by Matthiolus, 1554, 
• the pale-red by Tournefort in 1700, 
• and the purple-red in the Adversaria, 1570. 
• The white-fruited is named by Lyte in 1578, by Bauhin in 1596, etc. 
• The versicolored by J. Bauhin in 1651. 
• The bronze-leaved is indicated in Blackwell's Herbarium, 1750.
  
  
  
  
  
   (This is an excerpt from Herbarium Blackwellianum emendatum et auctum, id est Elisabethae Blackwell, added to illustrate the amount of work Sturtevant did to present this "in a nutshell" history.)

The cultivated species, following Dunal, are 

• Lycopersicum pimpinellifolium L., 
• L. pyriforme L., L. humboldtii L.,
• L. cerasiforme L., and 
• L. esculentum L.    

If these species are well founded, then it seems as if an additional species should be formed which would include our globular, smooth, unribbed sorts, and this we must do if we would follow out the history of the varieties. 

Image: INSTITUTE OF VEGETABLES AND FLOWERS IN THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, BEIJING, CHINA

Lycopersicum esculentum Dun. 

 This is the common species, with flattened and more or less ribbed fruit, and is the kind first introduced into European culture, being described in the Adversaria of 1570, as well as by many succeeding authors, and the earlier figures indicate that it has changed but little under culture, and was early known as now in red, golden, yellow, and white varieties, and a parti-colored fruit is mentioned by J. Bauhin in 1651, and the type of the bronze-leaved by Blackwell in 1770. 
It was probably the kind mentioned by Jefferson as cultivated in Virginia in 1781, as it was the kind whose introduction into general culture is noted from 1806 to about 1830, when their growing was becoming general. 

 It has the following synonymy, gained from figures :

• Common Large Red. Mawe, 1778.

• Poma amoris, an Glaucium Diosc. Lob. obs., 1576, 140.

• Poma amoris. Lyte's Dod., 1578, 440. Cam. Epit, 1586, 821 ; Ger., 1597, 275; Swert, 1654, t. 20, p. 2.

• Poma aurea. Lugd., 1587, 628.

• Poma amoris , pomum aureum. Lob. ic, 1591, I., 270.

• Solanum pomiferum, fructu rotunda, molli. Matth. op., 1598,

• Poma amoris fructu luteo et rubro. Hort. Eyst, 1613 ; 1713.

• Aurea mala. Dod., 1616, 458 ; 1583, 455.

• Pomi d'oro. Cast. Dur., 1617, 372.

• Pomum amoris majus. Park. Par., 1929, 381, f. 3.

• Amoris pomum. Blackw., 1750, t. 133.

• Mala aurea. Chabr., 1677, 525. J. B., 1650, 3, 620.

Vilmorin Album

• Solanum pomiferum. (below) Mor. Hist, 1699, 

• Lycopersicon. Tourn., 17 19, t. 63.

• Lycopersicon galeni. Morandi, 1744, t. 53, f. 8.

• Morelle pomme d' amour. Descourt., 1827, VI., 95.

• Tomate rouge grosse. Vilm., 1883,555. >

• Large Red. Burr, 1863, 646. 

Solanum pomiferum

In form these synonyms are substantially of one variety. The descriptions accompanying, and others of the same date, mention all the colors now found. 

In 1779 Tournefort names a pale red, red, a yellow, and a white variety in France, and in 1778 Mawe but the common large red in England. In 1854 Brown describes but two varieties, the large red and the large yellow, for American gardens.  The Lycopersicum esculentum L. is said by Bojer to grow spontaneously in the Mauritius [as an escape]. 

 Lycopersicum rotundum. 

I here place the larger unribbed round or oval varieties which are now becoming popular, and also the fancy varieties known as the plum, but I would not have it understood that at present I consider this group as forming a true species in the botanical sense, for my studies are not yet sufficiently complete. 

Of this group there are no indications of their being known to the early botanists, the first apparent reference I can detect being by Tournefort in 1700, who places among his varieties the Lycopersicum rubro non striato, and this same variety was catalogued by Tilly at Pisa in 1723.  

The non striato, not fluted or ribbed, implying the round form. In 1842 some seed of the Feejee Island variety was distributed in Philadelphia, and Wilkes describes the fruit of one variety as round, smooth, yellow, the size of a large peach, and the fruit of two other varieties as the size of a small egg, but gives no other particulars. This is the first certain reference that I find to this group.  

The large smooth or round red and the small yellow oval tomato of Browne, 1854, may belong here. Here may be classed such varieties as Hathaway's Excelsior, King Humbert, and the Plum, and some of the tomate pomme varieties of the French. 

This form occasionally  appears in the plants from seed of hybrid origin, as when the cross was made between the currant and the tree tomato, some plants thus obtained yielded fruit of the plum type. This, however, may have been atavism. The botanical relations seem nearer to the cherry tomato than to the ordinary forms. 

 Lycopersicum cerasiforme Dun. 

The cherry tomato is recorded as growing spontaneously in Peru, in the West Indies,  Antilles,  and Southern Texas. I have also observed it in a railroad cutting in New Jersey.  
It furnishes red and yellow varieties, and was noted in Europe as early as 1623,  and is mentioned in 1783 by Bryant as if the only sort in general culture in England at this time, but Mawe,  in 1778, enumerates the large red, as also the red and yellow cherry, as under garden culture.  

The following is its synonymy, mostly founded on description :

• Solanum lycopersicum. Bryant, 1783, 212.

• Solanum racemosum cerasorum. Bauh. Pin., 1623, 167 ; Prod.,1671, go.

• Solatium amoris minus, S. mala cethiopica parva. Park. Par. 1629, 379-

• Cujus fructus plane similis erat, magnitudine, figura, colore, Strychnodendro, etc. Recchius Notes, Hernand., 165 1, 296.

• Fructus est cersasi instar (quoad magnitudine), Hort. Reg. Bles. 1669, 310.

• Solanum pomiferum fructu rotundo, molli parvo rubro piano. Ray, 1704, III., 352.

• Lycopersicum fructu cerasi rubro. To urn., 17 19, 150.

• Lycopersicum fructu cerasi luteo. Tourn., 1719,150.

• Cherry-fruited. Mawe, 1778.

• Cherry. Mill. Diet, 1807; Burr, 1863,649,652.

• Morelle cerasiforme. Descourt, 1827, V., 279, t. 378.

• Lycopersicum cerasifolium. Noisette, 1829.

• Cherry-shaped. Buist, 1851 .

• Tomate cerise. Vilm., 1883, 559. 

This species is probably the normal form of the tomato of the gardens, to which the other species above given can be referred as varieties.  It is quite variable in some respects, bearing its fruit sometimes and usually in clusters, occasionally in racemes. It is but little grown, and then only for use in preserves and pickles. 

from The Scientist - The three evolutionary stages of tomatoes.
From the left to right: Solanum pimpinellifolium, S. lycopersicum var. cerasiforme and S. lycopersicum.Image: INSTITUTE OF VEGETABLES AND FLOWERS IN THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, BEIJING, CHINA
 (To be continued.)