(Continued from page 444.)
https://archive.org/details/jstor-2451569
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| I couldn't resist. Many more surreal cabbage postcards are in a past post. |
Brassica oleracea capitata L.
THE headed cabbage, in its perfection of growth and its multitude of varieties, bears every evidence of being of ancient origin.
It does not appear, however, to have been known to Dioscorides, or to Theophrastus, or the Greeks, nor to Cato, among the Romans ; but a few centuries later their presence is indicated by Columella and Pliny, who, in his "Tritianon" kind, speaks of the head being sometimes a foot in diameter, and going to seed the latest of all the sorts known to him.
The above info may have changed as the excellent book, The Natural History of Pompeii by Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski and Frederick G. Meyer, says,
"Among the Romans the cabbage (brassica) was table luxury and a number of varieties were grown. Cato distinguishes three varieties which Pliny quotes, but Pliny writing more than a century later, lists seven varieties, one of which was the Pompeian cabbage. He uses brassica, also the diminutive cauliculus, four times in the passage in which he discusses cabbage.The descriptions are, however, obscure, and we may well believe that if the hard-headed varieties now known had been seen in Rome at this time they would have received mention.
Olivier de Serres, quoted by A. Soyer, says, "White cabbages came from the north, and the art of making them head was unknown in the time of Charlemagne."
Albertus Magnus, who lived in the thirteenth century, seems to refer to a headed cabbage in his " Caputium," but there is no description.
The first unmistakable reference to a cabbage that I find is by Ruellius, in 1536, who calls them capucos coles or cabutos, describes the head as globular and often very large, even a foot and a half in diameter. Yet the word cabaches and caboches used in England in the fourteenth century indicates the cabbage as then known and distinguished from coles.
Ruellius also describes a loose-headed form called Romanos, and this name and description, when we consider the difficulty of heading cabbages in a warm climate, would lead us to believe that the Roman varieties were not our present solid- heading type, but loose-headed, and perhaps of the Savoy class.
Our present cabbages are divided by De Candolle into five types or races, — viz.,
- the flat-headed,
- the round-headed,
- the egg- shaped,
- the elliptic, and
- the conical.
Within each class are many sub-varieties. In Vilmorin's standard work, " Les Plantes Potageres," 1883, fifty-seven kinds are described, and others mentioned by name. In the "Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station" for 1886, seventy varieties are described, excluding synonymes. In both cases the Savoys are treated as a separate class, and are not included.
The history of these forms, as well as I can make out, will now be given.
The Flat-Headed Cabbage. — The type, the "Quintal." The first appearance of this form that I find is in " Pancovius' Herbarium," 1673, No. 612. A "common flat-winter," probably this form, is mentioned by Wheeler, 1763; the "flat-topped" is described by Mawe in 1778. The varieties that are now esteemed are remarkably flat and solid.
The following synonomy is taken from drawings only, and hence there can be no mistake in regard to the type :
- 1686; the chou pomme blanc of Tournefort, 1719;
- the English Brassicce quartum genus. Fuch., 1542,416.
- Kappiskraut. Roszlin, 1550, 87.
- Caulis capitidatus. Tragus, 1552, 717.
- Brassica capitata. Matth., 1558, 247; Pinseus, 1561, 163; Cam. Epit, 1586, 250.
- Kol oder Kabiskraut. Pictorius, 1581,90.
- Brassica alba sessilis glomerata, ant capitata Lactucce habitu. Lobel ic, 1591, i. 243.
- Brassica capitata albida. Lugd., 1587, i. 521; Dod. Pempt, 1616, 623.
- Brassica capuccia. Cast. Dur., 1617, 78.
- Brassica capitata alba. Bodaeus, 1644, yyy ; J. Bauhin, 165 1, ii. 826; Chabrseus, 1677, 269.
- the "losed" cabbage, a great round cabbage of Lyte's "Dodoens" ,1586;
- the White cabbage cole of Gerarde, 1597;
- the White Cabbage of Ray, of Townsend, 1726 ;
- the Common white of Wheeler, 1763 ;
- the English, or late, of' Stevenson, 1765 ;
- the Common round white of Mawe, 1778, etc.
The Egg-Shaped. — The type of the "Sugar-Loaf." Vilmorin
remarks of this variety, the Sugar-Loaf, that, although a very
old variety, and well known in every country in Europe, it does
not appear to be extensively grown anywhere.
It is called
chou chicon in France, and bundee kobee in India.
It is mentioned by name by Townsend, in 1726; by Wheeler, in 1763;
by Stevenson, in 1765; by Mawe, in 1778, etc.
Perhaps the
large-sided cabbage of Worlidge and the long-sided cabbage
of Quintyne belong to this division.
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| Sugar-Loaf type |
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| 1884 - Early York cabbage -The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening |
The Conical Cabbage. — The type is the " Filderkraut." This
race is described by Lamarck in 1783, and, if there is any constancy between the name and the variety during long periods, is
found in the Battersea, named by Townsend in 1726, and a
whole line of succeeding writers.
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| Filderkraut |
It is certainly very singular that but one of these races of
cabbage received the notice of the older botanists (excepting
the one flat-topped given by Chabrseus in 1677), as their char-
acteristics are extremely well marked, and form extreme contrasts between the conical or pointed and the spherical headed.
We must, hence, believe that they either originated or came into use within a recent period.
How they came, and whence they
came, must be decided from a special study, in which the effect
of hybridization may become a special feature. From the study
of sports that occasionally appear in the cabbage-garden, the
suggestion may be offered that at least some of these races have
been derived from crossings with some form of the Chinese cabbage, whereby form has become transferred while the characteristics of the Chinese species have disappeared. On the other
hand, the Savoy class, believed to have origin from the same
source as the cabbage, have oval or oblong heads, which have been noted by the herbalists.
The Cabbage is called,
The caper, although rarely grown in this country, forms an object of extensive culture in
the Mediterranean region for the sake of the flower-buds, which enter into commerce for use as a pickle or appetizer.
- in France, Chonx cabus, chou capu, chou en tete, chou pomme, chou pontine a feuille lisse ;
- in Germany, Kopfkohl, Kraut ;
- in Flanders, kabuiscool ;
- in Holland, slutkool ;
- in Denmark, hoved kaal ;
- in Italy, cavolo cappuccio ;
- in Spain, col repollo ;
- in Portugal, couve repolho ,
- in Sweden, husvudkal
- in France, capucos coles, or cabutos, Ruel., 1536; chou cabus, Lyte, 1586;
- in Germany, Kappiskraut, Adv., 1570; Kapskraut, Pin., 1561 ;
- in Italy, cavolo cappuccio and cappuzzino, Pin., 1561 ;
- in Spain, repolho and colhes morcianos, Pin., 1561
Nice article from Mother Earth News: Heirloom Cabbage Varieties and Other Members of the Brassica Family
Nice one page cabbage history in a nutshell at American Heritage Vegetables.Caper. Capparis spinosa L.
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| Sibthrop, J., Smith, J.E., Flora Graeca, vol. 5: p. 70, t. 486 (1825) |
The Greeks of the Crimea eat the shoots as well as the buds, and in Egypt the fruit,
- which in this variety is very large, is eaten by the Arabs. In Sindh and the Panjab, India, the fruit is also pickled and eaten. According to Ruellius, Aristoteles and Theophrastus
describe the plant as not cultivated in gardens; but in his time (1536) it was in the
gardens of France. Unger says it was known to the ancient Greeks, and the renowned
Phryne, at the first period of her residence in Athens, was a dealer in capers. (!!)
The plant has become widely distributed, and was introduced into South Carolina
about 1755.
There are two forms now known, — the spined and the unarmed. The former is the most esteemed, although C. inermis is also grown in France. Both kinds have been known for a
long time, as the following partial synonymy indicates :
I.
- Capparia. Ruellius, 1536, 561.
- C. spinosa, fructu minore , folio rotundo. Bauh., Pin., 1623, 480.
- C. spinosa. J. Bauh., 165 1, ii. 63.
- C. spinosa. Linn., Sp., 720.
- Caprier. Vil., 1883, 55.
- Capers.
- Capparis non spinosa fructu majore. Bauhin, Pin., 1623, 480.
- C. non spinosa. J. Bauhin, 1651, ii. 63; Tourn., Inst, 1719, 261.
- C. inerme. Naud. & Decaisne, Man., iv.
- Caprier, variete sans epines. Vilm., 1883, 55.
- in France, caprier ;
- in Germany, Kapernstrauch ;
- in Flanders and Holland, kapperboom ;
- in Italy, cappero ;
- in Spain, alcaparra;
- in Portugal, alcaparreira.
- in Arabic, kabar, or kabbar ;
- in Afghan, kabaria ;
- in Thibet, kabra ;
- in Panjab, kaur, kiari, kakri, kandee, taker, ber, barari, bauri, bassar ;
- in Sindh, kalvari
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| Lindman, C.A.M., Bilder ur Nordens Flora, (1922-1926) |
Caraway appears as a wild plant in Iceland, Scandinavia, Finland, Arctic, Central, and Southern Russia, Persia, and in Siberia ; also Eastern France, Spain, Central Europe, America, and the Caucasus, as well as in the Western Himalayas. It is largely cultivated in a distinct variety in Morocco. In commerce the seed is received from Finmark, Finland, and Russia, Prussia, Holland, and Morocco.
This plant is cultivated in gardens for its under leaves, which are used for flavoring soups and salads, and for its seeds, which are often mixed with bread, or in making " seed-cakes," and in Germany are put into certain cheeses. The root is tender, and is better than a parsnip, as was observed by Parkinson and Ray ; and Vilmorin, in 1883, says it can be so used, but this use now is probably very infrequent. (Did you know that!?? I didn't.)
Caraway is called,
Vilmorin describes five varieties, — the Cardon de Tours, the Cardon plein inerme, the
Cardon d'Espagne, the Cardon Puvis, and the Cardon a cotes rouges. The first of these, the Cardon de Tours, is very spiny, and we may reasonably believe it to be the sort figured by Matthiolus'* in 1598, under the name of Carduus aculeatus. It is named in French works on gardening in 1824, 1826, 1829, etc.
The Cardon plein inerme is scarcely spiny, is a little larger than the preceding, but otherwise closely resembling. J. Bauhin had never seen spineless cardoons. It is spoken of in 1824, in
It is called, in English, Smooth-Solid Cardoon, and has also names in Germany, Italy, and Spain. The Cardon d'Espagne is very large and not spiny, and is principally grown in the southern portions of Europe. We may reasonably speculate that this is the sort named by Pliny as coming from Corduba. " Cardons d'Espagne" have their cultivation described in " Le Jardinier Solitaire," 1612. A "Spanish cardoon" is described by Townsend in England in 1726, and the same name is used by McMahon in America in 1806. It is the Cynara integrifolia of Vahl.
The carrot is now found under cultivation and as an escape throughout a large portion of the world. In China it is noticed in the Yuan dynasty, as brought from Western Asia, 1280-1368, and is classed as a kitchen vegetable in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries by various Chinese authors.
- in France, carvi, anis des Vosges, cumin des pres ;
- in Germany, Kummel ;
- in Holland, karvii ;
- in Denmark, kommen ;
- in Italy, carvi ;
- in Spain, carvi, alcaravea ;
- in Portugal, alcaravia ;
- in Arabic, karaoweh? or cunveeya*
Cardoon. Cynara carduncidus L.
The cardoon is indigenous in the Mediterranean region, but has become naturalized elsewhere, as in Banda Oriental, where several hundred square miles have become covered by one mass of these prickly plants, and are impenetrable by man or beast.
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| Clusius, C., Rariorum plantarum historia, (1601) |
The cultivated plant is little grown in England or in America, but in France, Italy, and generally in Europe the stalks and inner leaves, rendered white and tender by blanching, are in esteem.
To the ancient Romans it was well known and cultivated for the footstalks, as at present. Pliny complains of the great price that monstrous-grown specimens brought at Rome, and that especially fine varieties came from Carthage and Corduba, in Spain.
In more recent times, Ruellius, in 1536, speaks of the use of the herb as a food, after the manner of asparagus. Matthiolus, in 1558, says there are many varieties in the gardens which are commonly called Cardoni by the Hetruscans, and that, diligently cultivated, these are tender, crisp, and white, and are eaten with salt and pepper. In 1623 Bauhin calls the plant Cinara spinosa, cujus pediculi esitantur.
Vilmorin describes five varieties, — the Cardon de Tours, the Cardon plein inerme, the Cardon d'Espagne, the Cardon Puvis, and the Cardon a cotes rouges. The first of these, the Cardon de Tours, is very spiny, and we may reasonably believe it to be the sort figured by Matthiolus'* in 1598, under the name of Carduus aculeatus. It is named in French works on gardening in 1824, 1826, 1829, etc.
Its English name is Prickly Solid Cardoon ; in Spain it is called Cardo espinoso. It holds the first estimation with the market-gardeners of Tours and Paris.
The Cardon plein inerme is scarcely spiny, is a little larger than the preceding, but otherwise closely resembling. J. Bauhin had never seen spineless cardoons. It is spoken of in 1824, in
French books on gardening.
It is called, in English, Smooth-Solid Cardoon, and has also names in Germany, Italy, and Spain. The Cardon d'Espagne is very large and not spiny, and is principally grown in the southern portions of Europe. We may reasonably speculate that this is the sort named by Pliny as coming from Corduba. " Cardons d'Espagne" have their cultivation described in " Le Jardinier Solitaire," 1612. A "Spanish cardoon" is described by Townsend in England in 1726, and the same name is used by McMahon in America in 1806. It is the Cynara integrifolia of Vahl.
The Cardon Puvis, or Artichoke-leaved, is spineless, and is grown largely in the vicinity of Lyons, France. It finds mention in the French books on gardening of 1824, 1829, etc., as previously enumerated.
The Cardon a cotes rouges, or Red-stemmed, is so named from having the ribs tinged with red. It is called a recent sort by Burr in 1863.
From a botanical point of view we have two types in these plants, — the armed and the unarmed;
but these characters are by no means to be considered as very constant, as in the Smooth- Solid we have an intermediate form. In an olericultural point of view we have but one type throughout, but a greater or less perfection. A greater acquaintance with the wild forms would, doubtless, show to us the prototypes of the variety differences as existing in nature.
("Olericulture is the science of vegetable growing, dealing with the culture of non-
- in France, cardon, cardonette, chardonnerette, chardonnette ;
- in Germany, Cardy, Carde ;
- in Flanders, kardoen, cardonzen ;
- in Denmark, kardon ;
- in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, cardo.
Carrot. Daucus carota L.
(You have to go here!!!!... https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pdfs/ch5102-carrot.pdf )
The carrot and the parsnip, if known to them, seem to have been confounded in the descriptions by the ancients, and we find little evidence that the cultivated carrot was known to the Greek writers, to whom the wild carrot was certainly known.
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| This lovely example of early printer's art is from Colonna, F., Ecphrasis minus cognitarum stirpium(1616) |
The ancient writers usually gave prominence to the medical efficacy of herbs ; and if our supposition be correct that their carrots were of the wild form, we have evidence of the existence of the yellow and red roots in nature, the prototypes of these colors now found in our cultivated varieties. Pliny, who was a naturalist, says they cultivate a plant in Syria like staphylinos, the wild (?) carrot, which some call gingidium, yet more slender and more bitter, and of the same properties, which is eaten cooked or raw, and is of great service as a stomachic; also a fourth kind, resembling a pastinaca somewhat, called by us Gallicam, but by the Greeks daucon. This comparison with a parsnip and the name is suggestive of the cultivated carrot. Galen, a Greek physician of the second century, implies cultivation of the carrot when he says the root of the wild carrot is less fit to be eaten than that of the domestic.
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| 1586 - http://www.mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb11220496-9 |
In the thirteenth century, however, Albertus Magnus (lib. vii. tract, ii. cap. 1-4) treats of the plants under field culture, garden culture, orchard culture, and vineyard culture, and yet, while naming the parsnip, makes no mention of the carrot, — if the word pastinaca really means the parsnip. I am willing to believe, however, that the pastinaca of Albertus Magnus is the carrot, for in the sixteenth century Ammonius gives the name for the carrot pastenei, as applying to Pastinaca sativa and agrestis. Barbarus, who died in 1493, and Virgelius both describe the carrot under the name Pastinaca ; and Apicius, a writer on cookery in the third century, gives directions for preparing the Carota seu pastinaca, which can only apply to the carrot. Dioscorides uses the word Carota as applying to the Pastinaca silvestris in the first century. Columella and Palladius both mention the pastinaca as garden plants, but say nothing but what can better apply to the carrot than the parsnip. Macer Floridus also treats of what may be the carrot under Pastinaca, and says no roots afford better food.
Interesting! - Macer's herbal was probably written sometime in the 10th or 11th century. The work is usually attributed to Odo, Bishop of Meung as his name appears on the 12th- century manuscript located in Dresden. Although other attributions have been made, "Odo of Meung, however is most often named, probably more as a bibliographic convenience than anything else" (Anderson).We hence believe that the carrot was cultivated by the ancients, but was not a very general food-plant, and did not attain the modern appreciation ; that the word pastinaca, or cariotam, or carota, in these times was applied to both the cultivated and the wild form ; and we suspect that the word Gallicam, used by Pliny in the first century, indicates that the cultivated root reached Italy from France, where now it is in such exaggerated esteem. (Hmmm, and what does that shot mean, I wonder?) The Sisaron of Dioscorides and the Siser of Columella and Pliny may have been a form of the carrot, but we can attain no certainty from the descriptions. The fact that the grouping of the roots which occurs in the Skirret, into which authors translate Siser, is not mentioned by the ancients, — a distinction almost too important to be overlooked, — and that the short carrot was called Siser by botanists of the sixteenth century, are arguments in favor of the Siser being a carrot. On the other hand, we should scarcely expect a distinction being made between Pastinaca and Siser, were both as resembling in the plant as are the two forms of carrot at present.
De viribus herbarum carmen is a poem written in Latin hexameters. The verses discuss the medicinal and dietetic properties of 77 herbs. Pliny, Galen, Dioscorides and Strabo, among others, are cited as sources. "With the possible exception of the 'Herbarium' of Pseudo-Apuleius, probably the best known single and distinct treatment of herbs produced during the Middle Ages was the poem 'De viribus herbarum' which circulated under the name Macer Floridus" (Thorndike). Its popularity and longevity has often been ascribed to Macer's use of verse, which allowed doctors, apothecaries and others ease in memorizing prescriptions and recipes. Christie's
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| USDA photo |
In India the carrot is said to have first come from Persia, and now cultivated in abundance in the Mahratta and Mysore countries. The carrot is enumerated among the edible plants of
Japan by Thunberg, and earlier by Kaempfer. The kind now described by a Japanese authority are an inch and a half in diameter at the crown and nearly two feet and a half long, of a high color. It is now cultivated in the Mauritius, where it has also become spontaneous. It is recorded in Arabia by Forskal, and was seen growing — both the yellow and the red — by Rauwolf at Aleppo in the sixteenth century.
In Europe its culture was mentioned by nearly all the ancient herbalists and by writers on gardening subjects, the red or purple kind finding mention by Ruellius in 1536.
In England the yellow and dark red, both long forms, are noticed by Gerarde in 1597, and the species is supposed to have been introduced by the Dutch in 1558.In the "Surveyors' Dialogue," 1604, it is stated that carrot-roots are then grown in England, and sometimes by farmers.
In the New World carrots are mentioned at Margarita Island by Hawkins in 1565 (and this implies that they were well known in England at this date); are mentioned in Brazil by Nieuhoff in 1647; in Virginia in 1609 and 1648; and in Massachusetts in 1629.
In 1779 carrots were among the Indian foods destroyed by General Sullivan near Geneva, N. Y. So fond of carrots are the Flathead Indians, of Oregon, that the children cannot forbear stealing them from the fields, although honest as regards other articles.
The types of the modern carrot are the tap-rooted and the premorse-rooted, with quite a number of sub-types, which are very distinct in appearance. The synonymy in part is as below.
First, for the sharp-pointed forms, which are ancient, —
I. The long, taper-pointed forms.
- Pastinaca sativa prima. Fuch., 1542, 682 (very little improved).
- Moren. Roszlin, 1550, 106.
- Staphylinus. Tragus, 1552, 442.
- Carota. Cam. Epit., 1586, 509 (very highly improved); Matth., 1598, 549-
- Pastinaca sativa Diosc. Daucus Theophrasti. Lob. ic, 1591, i. 72O.
- Pastinaca sativa atrorubens. Lob. ic, 1. c, 723.
- Pastinaca sativa temiifolia. Ger., 1597, 872.
- Pastinaca temiifolia sativa. Dod., 1616, 678.
- Pastinaca sativa rnbens. Dod., 1616, 678.
- Long yellows, reds, and whites of modem grozving.
- Pastinaca sativa altera. Fuch., 1 542, 683 (very poor).
- Siser. Matth. Com., 1558, 242; Pin., 1561, 147.
- Siser alterum. Cam. Epit., 1586, 227.
- Carota. Cast. Dur., 16 17, 95.
- Blanche des Vosges. Vilmorin, 1883, 70.
- Danvers half-long of American gardens.
I. The spherical.
The earliest mention I find of this type is
in France in 1824, 1826, and 1829, — the Courte de Pollande. It
is figured by Decaisne & Naudin, and, in a more improved form,
by Vilmorin in 1883.
II. The cylindrical. 
The carrots of this type are remarkably
distinct, and have for types the Carentan and the Coreless of
Vilmorin. The first was in American seed-catalogues in 1878. 
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Quite a number of varieties belong to
this class, of which the Early Horn is the type. This was mentioned for American gardens by McMahon in 1806, and by succeeding authors.
In view of the confusion in early times in the naming of the
carrot, it is desirable to offer a list of the names used by various
authors, with the dates.
The first, or long carrot, was called,
- in England, carrot, Lyte, 1586;
- in France, carota, Ruel., 1536, carrottes, pastenades, Pin., 1561, pastenade jaulne, pastenade rouge, Lyte, 1586, carotte, racine jaulne, Ger., 1597;
- in Germany, Pastenet, Ammon., 1539, Pastiney, Pastinachen, Fuch., 1542, geel Ruben, rohte Ruben, weissen Ruben, Trag., 1552, Mohren, Rosz., 1550, Moren, Pin., 1561, gelbe Ruben, weissen Ruben, Rauwolf, 1582, rot Mohren, weisse Mohren, Cam., 1586;
- in Dutch, geel peen, pooten, geel mostilen, caroten, Lyte,' 1586; in Italy, carota, Pin., 1 561, carota and carotola, Cam., 1586, pastinaca, Ger., 1597, Dod., 1616; in Spain, canahoria, Ger., 1597, and paste- nagues, cenoura, Dod., 1616.
The half-long, taper-pointed carrot was called Siser by Matthiolus in 1558;
- in French, carottes blanche, Pin., 1561; but his other names applicable to the Skirret are the chervy, giroles aut carottes blanches, Cam. Epit, 1586;
- in Germany, Gierlin sive Girgellin, Cam., 1586;
- in Italy, carota bianca, Cam., 1586, carotta, carocola, Cast. Dur., 1617;
- in Spain, chirivias, Cam., 1586, who says planted in gardens and even in fields throughout Germany and Bohemia.
The modern names for the carrot, in Europe, are,
- in France, carotte, faux-chervis, girouille, pastenade ;
- in Germany, Mohre, Gelbrube, Carotte ;
- in Flanders, wortel ; in Holland, wortel, peen ;
- in Denmark, guleroden ; in Italy, carota;
- in Spain, zanahoria ;
- in Portugal, cenoura ;
- in Greece, karotta, or staphidona?
In extra-European countries :
- in Arabic, gezar, istufleen, juzir-id-bostanee ;
- in Bengali, gajar ;
- in Egypt, djazar ;
- in India, gager ;
- in Japan, kofuk, vulgo nisji et jabu nensin;
- in Persia, zardak ; in Sanscrit, grinjuna, canjara ;
- in Telugu, gazeragedda.
The various forms of the carrot have probably their prototypes in nature, but as yet the evidence is a little deficient. We
may suspect the general resemblance of the Altringham to the
Japanese variety already mentioned may be somewhat more than
accidental, and to signify the original introduction of this variety
from Japan. We have, in the attempts at amelioration, noted
the appearance of forms of similar types as those under cultivation. The presumptive evidence is in favor of the view that all
cultivated types are removes from nature, not new originations
by man ; yet the proof is not as decisive as could be wished.
(To be continued.)
