https://archive.org/details/jstor-2452344
Lycopersicum humboldtii Dun.
This is very like the preceding, but the racemes of the flowers
smaller, the calycine segments being never the length of the
corolla, and the berries one-half smaller, red, and, when cultivated, not less angular than those of L. esculentum.
It was
noticed by Humboldt as under cultivation at La Victoria,
Neuva Valencia, and everywhere in the valleys of Aragua, in
South America, and is described by Kunth'in 1823, and by
Willdenow, about 1806, from plants in the Berlin garden from
seeds received from Humboldt. The fruit, although small, has a
fine flavor.
I suspect the Turban, Turk's Cap, or Turk's Turban
of our seedsmen, a novelty of 1881, to be referable here, although
this cultivated variety is probably a monstrous form.
Lycopersicum pyriforme Dun.
This, which is to be classed as one of the fancy varieties under
cultivation, occurs with both yellow, red, and pale yellow or
whitish fruit. It was described by Dunalin 1813, and in Persoon's
synopsis in 1805. It is mentioned in England in 1819, and
both the colors in the United States by Salisbury in 1848.
It
is liked by some for garnishing and pickling.
The common
names are pear-shaped and fig.
Lycopersicum pimpinellifolium Dun.
The currant tomato bears its red fruit, somewhat longer than a
common currant, or as large as a very large currant, in two ranked racemes, which are frequently quite large and abundantly filled. It grows wild in Peru and Brazil, and is figured by
Feuille in 1725, but not as a cultivated plant, and is described
by Linnaeus in 1763. The grape or cluster tomato is recorded
in American gardens by Burr in 1863, and as the red currant
tomato by Vilmorin in 1883 and 1885. It is an exceedingly
vigorous and hardy variety, with delicate foliage, and fruits most
abundantly. The berries make excellent pickles.
According to the test of cross-fertilization, few, if any, of the
above are true species. Two only of the above named — the
cherry and the currant tomato — do I find recorded in a truly
wild condition. The tomato has, however, been under cultivation from a remote period by the Nahua and other Central
American nations, and reached European and American culture,
as all the evidence implies, in an improved condition. If there
is any evidence that any of our so-called types arose spontaneously
from the influences of culture, I have failed to note it. We may
well ask, Why did not other forms appear during the interval
from 1558 to 1623, when but one sort, and that figured as little variable, received the notice of the early botanists?
The modern names of the tomato, or love apple, are
- in France,
tomate, pomme d 'amour, pomme d'or, pomme du Perou ;
- in Germany, tomate, liebesapfel ;
- in Flanders and Holland, tomaat ;
- in
Italy, pomo d'oro ;
- in Spain and Portugal, tomate ;
- in Norway,
kjoerlighedsaeble
- In Arabic, bydingan toumaten ;
- in Burma, kha-yan-myae-phung ;
- in Ceylon, maha-rata-tamattie ;
- in the Deccan, wallwangee ;
- in Egypt, bydingan toumaten ;
- in Malaya, tomatte ;
- in Tagalo, tomates, camatis ;
- in Tamil, seemie-takalie-pidlam ;
- in Indian gardens, goot-begoon, oou laeetee buengun ;
- in Mexico,
jomatl ;
- in Japan, akanasu, red egg-plant.
Turnip. Brassica sp.
Vilmorin in his "Les Plantes Potageres," 1883, classes all the
turnips under Brassica napus L. ; but the older authors referred
them, more correctly as we think, to Brassica napus and B. rapa.
Decandolle, who makes this distinction, separates the first into
three groups, based on color, the white, yellow, and black ; the
second into groups, comprising the white, yellow, black, red, and
green.
In the thirteenth century Albertus Magnus describes the
napus as with a long root, which is eaten, and the rapa as having
a spherical compressed bulb, and sometimes red in the stalk.
The
turnip is of ancient culture. Columella, 18 a.d., says the napus
and the rapa are both grown, and the latter the larger and greener
for the use of man and beasts, especially in France; the former
not having a swollen, but a slender, root. He also speaks of the
Mursian gongylis, which may be the round turnip, as being especially fine.
The distinction between the napus and the rapa was
not always held, as Pliny uses the word napus generically, and
says that there are five kinds, the
- Corinthean,
- Cleonaeum,
- Liothasium,
- Boeoticum, and the
- Green.
The Corinthean, the largest,
with an almost bare root, grows on the surface, and not, as
do the rest, under the soil.
The Liothasium, also called Thracium, is the hardiest.
The Boeoticum is sweet, of a notable roundness, and not very long as is the Cleonaeum.
At Rome the
Amiternian is in most esteem, next the Nursinian, and third our
own kind (the green ?).
In another place, under rapa he mentions
two kinds, the one broad-bottomed (flat?), the other globular,
and the most esteemed those of Nursia. The napus of Amiterninum, of a nature quite similar to the rapa, succeeds best in a cool
place. He mentions that the rapa sometimes attain a weight of forty pounds.
This weight has, however, been exceeded in modern times. Matthiolus, in 1558, had heard of turnips that
weighed a hundred pounds, and speaks of having seen long and
purple sorts that weighed thirty pounds. Amatus Lusitanus, in 1524, speaks of turnips weighing fifty and sixty pounds. In
England, in 1792, Martyn says the greatest weight that he is
acquainted with is thirty-six pounds. In California, about 1850,
a turnip is recorded of one hundred pounds weight.
Brassica napus esculenta DC.
 |
| Vilmorin |
This differs from the Brassica rapa oblonga by its smooth and
glaucous leaves. It surpasses other turnips by the sweetness of
its flavor, and furnishes white, yellow, and black varieties. It is
known as the Navet or French turnip. It was apparently the
napa of Columella. It was certainly known to the early botanists, yet its synonymy is difficult to be traced from the figures.
I think, however, the following are correct:
- Napus. Trag., 1552, 730; Matth., 1554, 240; Pin., 1561,
144; Cam. Epit, 1586, 222; Dod., 1616, 674; Fischer, 1646.
- Bunias sive napus. Lob. ic, 1 591, I., 200.
- Bunias silvestris lobelii. Ger., 1597, 181.
- Napi. Cast. Dur., 161 7, 304.
- Bunias. Bodaeus, 1644, 773.
- Napus dulcis. Blackw., 1765, t. 410.
- Navet petit de Berlin. Vilm., 18.83,360.
- Teltow turnip. Vilm., 1885, 5 8
The navews are mentioned as under cultivation in England by
Worlidge, in 1683, as the French turnip by Wheeler, in 1763,
and Miller's Dictionary, 1807. Gasparin says the navet de
Berlin, which often acquires a great size, is much grown in Alsace and in Germany. In China, according to Bretschneider, it was known in the fifth century.
Brassica rapa depressa DC.
This has a large root expanding under the origin of the stem
into a thick, round, fleshy tuber, flattened at the top and bottom.
It has white, yellow, black, red or purple, and green varieties. It
seems to have been known from ancient times, and is described
and figured in the earlier botanies.
 |
| A. Flattened both above and below; Vilmorin |
A. Flattened both above and below.
Rapum. Matth., 1554, 240; Cam. Epit., 1586, 218.
Rapum sive rapa. Pin., 1561, 143.
Rapa. Cast. Dur., 1617, 386.
Navet turnip. Vilm., 1883, 583.
 |
B. Flattened, but pointed below.
Rave d'Auvergne tardive
|
B. Flattened, but pointed below.
Orbiculatum seu turbinatum rapum. Lob. ic., 1791, I., 197.
Rapum. Porta, Phytognom, 1591, 120.
Rapum vulgare. Dod., 16 16, 673.
Rave d'Auvergne tardive. Vilm., 1883., 369.
 |
| Vilmorin |
C. Globular.
Rapum. Trag., 1552, 728.
Rapa, La Rave. Tourn., 1719, 113.
Navet jaune d'Hollande. Vilm., 1883, 370.
Yellow Dutch. Vilm., 1885, 588.
.
Brassica rapa oblonga DC.
This race differs from the preceding in having a long and
oblong tuber tapering to the radicle. It seems an ancient form, —
perhaps the Cleonaeum of Pliny.
- Vulgare rapum alterum. Trag., 1532, 729.
- Rapum longum. Cam. Epit, 1586, 219.
- Rapum tereti, rotunda, oblongaque radici. Lob. ic., 1591, I.,
197.
- Rapum oblongius. Dod., 1616, 673.
- Rapum sativum rotundum and oblongum. J. Bauh., 165 1, II.,
838.
- Rapa, La Rave. Tourn., 1719, 113.
- Navet de Briollay. Vilm., 1883, 372.
- Briollay turnip. Vilm., 1885, 591.
This representation by no means embraces all the turnips now
known, as it deals with form only, and not with color and habits.
In 1828 thirteen kinds were in Thorburn's American seed catalogue, and in 1887 thirty-three kinds.
In France, twelve kinds
were named by Pirolle in 1824, and by Petit in 1826. In 1887
Vilmorin's wholesale seed-list enumerates thirty-one kinds.
The turnip is believed to have reached England from Holland
in 1550, but before this it had reached the New World. In
1540 Cartier sowed turnip seed at the present Montreal, in
Canada. In 1609 turnips are mentioned in Virginia, as also in
1649; they are mentioned as cultivated in Massachusetts in
1629.
In Peru they are said by Acosta, in 1604, to have
increased so abundantly as to become a nuisance in the planting
of grain.
The turnip is called
- in France, navet, gros navet, grosse rave,
naveau, navet turnips, rabiole, rabioule, rave plate, tornep, turneps,
turnip ;
- in Germany, herbst-rube, stoppel-rube ;
- in Flanders and
Holland, raap ;
- in Denmark, roe;
- in Italy, navone, rapa;
- in
Spain and Portugal, nabo;
- in Arabic, lift, luft;
- in Bengali,
shalgram ;
- in Persia, shalgram ;
- in Sindh, gokhru ;
- in Japan,
busei, aona (the round form).
Hmmm...is this the end of Sturtevant's articles? No vegetable after "T"? As far as I have found it is the last installment, but I will look again!
Benjamin A. Elliot was next in the business. While he loved his roses and carnations which he raised in the nursery, he also offered seeds. Like his father he appears to have let the printer design his envelope! 
