Monday, July 18, 2016

1888 - Part 13 - Lima Beans to Mustard - Sturtevant's HISTORY OF GARDEN VEGETABLES.

Lima BeanPhaseolus lunatus L.
George Bentham - interesting man.
THIS bean is of American origin, as its seed has been found in the mummy pits of Peru, and Bentham cites specimens spontaneous in the region of the River Amazon and Central Brazil.
 Thevetus, in 1558, published his " Les Singularities de la France Antarctique ou Amerique," and in this he speaks of the "Americanorum Faba, omnino alba, valde compressae, nostratibus latiores et longiores," which is probably this species.  (Trans:  The beans are the Americans, it is a white, strongly flattened, broader and longer than the our country 's.)
The striae radiating from the eye of the Lima bean make its identification very easy, and hence we cannot be in error in our recognition of the figures given by Lobel in 1591, Clusius in 1601, J. Bauhin in 1651, and Chabraius in 1673, and Clusius notes that he first grew it in 1576.



Clusius, C., Rariorum plantarum historia - 1601
The synonymy, as I have studied it out, is as follows: 

  • Phaseoli magni late albi. Lob. It, 1591, 2, 60.  
  • B. peregrini I. genus alterrum. Clus. Hist, 1601, 2, 223 (seen in 1576) fig. 
  • Phaseolus, lato, striata, sive radiato semine. J. Bauh., 1651, II., 267, fig. 
  • P. novi orbis, latus, totos candidus sim-laci hortensis affinis. J. B., 1651, II., 268, fig. Chabr., 1673, 137, fig.  
  • Phaseolus lunatus, L. sp., 1763, 1016.  
  • P. inamaenus, L. sp., 1763, 1016.  
  • P. bipunctatus. Jac. Hort., I., t. 100, ex Mill. Diet. P. rufus. Jacq. Hort., I., 13, t. 34, ex Mill. Diet.  
  • P. saccharatus. Macfad., 1837, 282.  
  • P. puberulus. Kunth. Syn., 1825, IV., 106.  
  • Bushel or Sugar Bean. A Treat, on Gard. (1818). 
  • Sugar Bean. Maycock, Barb., 1830, 293.  
  • Lima Bean. McMahon, 1806.
This bean requires a warm season, and hence is not grown so much in northern and central Europe as in this country. Vilmorin describes three varieties and names two others. Martens, however, describes five well marked varieties.

Before I continue with Sturtevant on Limas, I have to share this site. Mario Nenno's  Bean Seed Images, project collects seed images of the 80 accepted species of the Genus Phaseolus and some of the related Genus Vigna.  How cool is that!!

1. The 
large white Lima is among those figured by Lobel and by J. Bauhin, and this places its appearance in Europe in 1591, and according to Martens it is the Phaseolus itiamcenus L. It was in American gardens in 1828, and probably before.

2. The 
potato Lima is a white bean, much thickened and rounded as compared with the first. It seems to be fairly figured by Lobel in 1591, and the Phaseolus limensis Macfad.  justly esteemed in Jamaica. 
3. The small white Lima or Sieva, saba, Carolina, Carolina sewee and West Indian, is esteemed on account of its greater hardiness over the other varieties. 
It is also well figured by Lobel in 1591, under the name Phaseoli parvi pallido-albi ex America delati. On account of the names, and the hardiness of the plant, and as being probably cultivated by the Indians, I am disposed to suggest that it may be the Bushel or Sugar bean, esteemed very delicate, and of various colors, as white, marbled, and green, and grown in Virginian gardens before 1818.


Lawson in 1700 says: "The Bushel bean, a spontaneous growth, very flat, white, and mottled with a purple figure, was trained on poles " in the Carolinas. The Sieva, if a synonym of the Bushel bean, is the white form, and was in American gardens before 1806. Vilmorin mentions a variety of the Sieva spotted with red.

4. The speckled Lima has white seeds striped and spotted with a deep, dark red. The figures of Lobel, 1591, under Phaseoli rubri, very well represent the cultivated variety, as also a sort sent me as growing spontaneously in Florida in abandoned Indian fields.


5. The large red I cannot trace; it may be the blood red bean Martens received from Texas, Sierra Leone and Batavia. It differs from the next but in size.


6. The small red answers well to the description given of  Phaseolus  rufus Jacq. by Martens, and this put its appearance at 1770.

These six varieties, with their synonyms, include all the Lima beans with which I am acquainted, but there are a number of other sorts described, which sooner or later will appear and be claimed as originations.

 A careful reflection over my list will clearly convince that our varieties are all of ancient occurrence, and that there have been no originations under culture within modern times. 
A black white-streaked form is recorded in Cochin China by Loureiro; a white black-streaked form is figured by Clusius in 1601 ; a black as Phaseolus derasus, Schrank, in Brazil. 

The P. bipunctatus Jacq. has not as yet reached our seedsmen, although grown at Reunion under the name of pois du Cap

Off topic, this gourmet food company also had a ginger mustard that looked fantastic!!


Martens describes several others with a yellow band about the eye, and variously colored, and one with an orange ground and black markings occurs among the beans from the Peruvian graves at Ancon at the National Museum.
The Lima bean is called:
  • in India the Duffin or Vellore bean
  • in Jamaica the Sugar bean, as also in Barbadoes. 
  • In France, Haricot de Lima, feve Creole
  • in Germany, Lima bohne;
  • in Italy, Faguiolo di Lima; 
  • in Spain, India de Lima;
  • in Ceylon, oorudumbala.

This plant is yet to be rarely found in gardens. At the present day, says Vilmorin, Lovage is almost exclusively used in the manufacture of confectionery; formerly the leaf stalks and bottoms of the stems were eaten, blanched like celery. 
The whole fields plant has a strong, sweetish, aromatic odor, and a warm, pungent taste, and is probably grown now in America, as in 1806, rather as a medicinal than as a culinary herb. It appears to have been known to Ruellius in 1536, who calls it Levisticum officinarum, and was only seen in gardens by Chabraeus in 1677.
It is called 
  • in France ache de montagne, liveche;
  • in Germany, liebstock
  • in Spain, apio de monte
Clairvoyant Reminiscences and Herbal Recipes uses lovage in herbal cures.   I include it because it is one of those wacko combinations you come across that are so amusing.

Another short article that showed up was this, from the 1870 periodical Once a Week.  
Lovage, levisticum of botany, a plant which was formerly of great repute as a potherb, and at present is better known, I hear, to the lovers of vulgar cordials, as compounded with gin for certain Bacchanalian ailments, has, on Dr. Johnson's authority, in connection with other ingredients, a virtue in the relief of rheumatism. 
I was reading lately in one of the grandiloquent Doctor's letters—vide Boswell—to Bennet Langton, this little recipe: "take equal quantities of flour of sulphur and flour of mustard-seed; make them an electuary with honey or treacle, and take a bolus as big as a nutmeg several times a-day, as you can bear it; drinking after it a quarter of a pint of the infusion of the root of lovage." In one case, at any rate, the author of Rasselas informs his correspondent this medicine worked well. "The patient"— he writes—"was very old, the pain very violent, and the relief, I think, speedy and lasting." As a notion, the adoption of which can do no harm, even if it should do no great good, I am—with thanks to Dr. Johnson—thinking of shortly giving it a personal trial.
Mallows. Malva crispa L.
Jacquin, N.J. von, Hortus botanicus Vindobonensis,  (1770)

Jacquin, N.J. von, Hortus botanicus Vindobonensis,  (1770)



This plant is considered nearly indispensable in French gardens, although it is not an esculent, but the leaves are used for garnishing. It was known to Camerarius in 1588, and was only known to Dodonaeus, in 1616, as a cultivated plant.

The mallows which were used by the Romans as a pot-herb appear to be the Malva rotundifolia L.

Even Pythagoras thought much of this spinage, and it is even now said to be grown extensively on the banks of the Nile. M. sylvestris L. appears also to have been grown by the Romans as a pot herb, and M. verticillata L. has been recognized among Chinese vegetables from the 5th century. 

All these, and, indeed, all malvas have now disappeared from cultivation as edibles in European countries.  (Why?)

The Curled Mallow (M. crispa) is called 
  • in France mauve frisée, mauve crepue, mauve Ã  feuilles crispées;
  • in Germany, krausblättrige malve;
  • in Italy, malva crespa.





The M. rotundifolia L. was carried to North America previous to 1669, and now appears as a weed. 

  • It is the mallows of Britain and America,
  • the mauve of France,
  • the runde kasepappel of Germany,
  • the malva of Italy,
  • the moloha or molohe of Greece.
  • In Yemen called hobsen 
  • (Gosh...Sturtevant felt the need to vary his phrasing!)
The M. verticillata L. is called 
  • in Egypt khobbeyzeh;
  • in China tung han ts'ai.





Mangold. Beta vulgaris, var.

Mangolt was the old German name for the Chard, or rather for the beet species, but in recent times it has become applied to a large growing root of the beet kind, used for forage purposes. In the selections size and the perfection of the root above ground have been important elements, as well as the desire for novelty, and hence we have a large number of very distinct appearing sorts,—the long red, about two-thirds above ground, the olive shaped or oval, the globe, and the flat-bottomed Yellow d'Obendorf. 

The colors to be noted are the red, the yellow, and the white. 

The size often obtained in single specimens is enormous; a weight of 135 pounds has been claimed in California, and Gasparin in France vouches for a root weighing 132 pounds.

I have ascertained very little concerning the history of mangolds. They certainly are of modern introduction. Olivier de Serres in France, 1629, describes a red beet which was cultivated for cattle-feeding, and speaks of it as a recent acquisition from Italy. 










In England it is said to have arrived from Metz in 1786, but I find a book advertised of which the following is the title:— Culture and use of the Mangel Wurzel, a Root of Scarcity, translated from the French of the Abbe de Commerell, by J. C. Lettsom, with colored plates, third edition, 1787,—by which it would appear that it was known earlier.     (Someone else was taken with the name "Root of Scarcity" and wrote it on the title page of the book :-)

McMahon records it in American culture in 1806.  Vilmorin describes sixteen kinds, and mentions many others.

The beet is one of the plants most easy to improve by selection, as the experience of Vilmorin proves, as well as the more perfected varieties which are constantly being advertised. I doubt not but that the prototypes of all the distinct forms could be found in nature, but unfortunately I find no descriptions which I can use to illustrate this idea, which receives such constant support with other plants whenever facilities for investigation occur.

The mangold, mangold-wurzel or Root of Scarcity is called
  • in France Disette, Racine d'abondance, Betterave Disette;
  • in Germany, mangel-worsel, futter-rube, futter-runklerube;
  • in Flanders and Holland, mangel-wortel;
  • in Spain remolacha de grav cultivo, betabel campestu. 

Nice, quirky site by Jerry Coleby-Williams!



Martynia. Martynia, sp.

This is a lovely book.


Houstoun, W., Reliquiae houstounianae, (1781)
Martynia. Martynia, sp.


The fruits of the Martynias, when gathered while young and tender, make an excellent pickle, and they are occasionally grown in our gardens for this purpose. There are two species.

M. proboscidea Glox. This purple-flowered form occurs wild on the banks of the Mississippi and lower tributaries to New Mexico. It is also cultivated in gardens further north, about which it is apt to become naturalized. It is mentioned under American cultivation in 1841. It was known in England as a plant of ornament in 1738, and perhaps there has scarcely as yet entered the kitchen garden.

M. lutea Lindl. This species, originally from Brazil, has yellow flowers. It does not appear to be in American gardens, as I have never seen it, nor is its seed advertised by our seedsmen. It reached Europe in 1824. It is described by Vilmorin as under kitchen garden culture.

The Martynia, or Unicorn plant, is called 
  • in Germany, gemsenhornerz 
  • in Italy, testa di quaglia ;
  • in Malta, testa di guaglia.
  • in France martynia, cornaret, comes du diable, bicorne, ongles du diable
The botanist’s repository [H.C. Andrews] - 1809-1810





Jacquin, NJ von, Florae Austriaceae (1773)








Meadow Cabbage.
Cirsium oleraceum Scop.


This plant is included among vegetables by Vilmorin, although he says it does not appear to be ever cultivated.



 The swollen root-stock, gathered before the plant flowered, was formerly used as a table vegetable. It does not appear to have ever reached American gardens or use.



Grows in wet land.













Cape watermelon and gladiolus
Jan Brandes, 1786
Melon. Cucumis melo L.

Both the word melon and pepon have been used in a generic sense, and sometimes as synonymous. Albertus Magnus, in the thirteenth century, says, melons, which some call pepones, have the seed and the flower very nearly like those of the cucumber, and also says in speaking of the cucumber that the seeds are like those of the pepo. 

Under the head of the watermelon, citrullus, he calls it pepo, with a smooth, green skin, but the pepo is commonly yellow and of an uneven surface, and as if round semicircular sections were orderly arranged together.
  • In 1536 Reullius describes our melon as the pepo; 
  • in 1542 Fuchsius describes the melon, but figures it under the name of pepo. 
  • In 1550 Roszlin figures the melon under the name of pepo, and in 
  • 1558 Matthiolus figures it under the name of melon. 

The Greek name of pepon, and the Italian, German, Spanish, and French of melon, variously spelled, are given among synonyms by various authors of the sixteenth century, and melones sive pepones are used by Pinaeus in 1561, melone and pepone by Castor Durante in 1617, and by Gerarde in England, in 1597.

Melons and pompions are used synonymously, and the melon is called muske-melon or million.

Whether the ancients knew the melon is a matter of doubt. Dioscorides, in the first century, says the flesh or pulp (cara) of the pepo used in food is diuretic. Pliny, about the same period, says a new form of cucumber has lately appeared in Campania called melopepo, which grows on the ground in a round form, and he adds, as a remarkable circumstance, in addition to their color and odor, that when ripe, although not suspended, yet the fruit separates from the stem at maturity. Galen, in the second century, treating of medicinal properties, says the autumn fruit [i.e., ripe] do not excite vomiting as do the unripe, and further says mankind abstain from the inner flesh of the pepo, where the seed is borne, but eat it in the melopepo.

A half century later Palladius gives directions for planting melones, and speaks of them as being sweet and odorous. Apicius, a writer on cookery, about 230 A. D., directs that pepones and melones be served with various spices corresponding in part to present customs; and Nonnius, an author of the sixth century, speaks of cucumbers which are odoriferous. In the seventh century Paulus Agineta, a medical writer, mentions the medicinal properties of the melopepo as being of the same character, but less than that of the pepo, and separates these from the cucurbita and cucumis, not differing from Galen, already quoted.

From these remarks concerning odor and sweetness, which particularly apply to our melon, and the mention of the falling spontaneously of the ripe fruit, a characteristic of no other garden vegetable, we are inclined to believe that these references are to the melon, and more especially so as the authors of the sixteenth and following centuries make mention of many varieties, as Amatus Lusitanus, in 1554, who says, "quorum varietas ingens est" (Trans.-"the variety is enormous") and proceeds to mention some as thin skinned, others as thicker skinned, some red fleshed, others white.

I know scarcely enough about melons as yet to classify into types, as I am only acquainted with fifty-eight names of varieties under growth, but varieties occur that can be described as round, flattened, oblong, oval, long; as smooth, netted, ribbed, waited; as white, green, red, orange fleshed; as early, late, and winter.

The following may be considered as notes only; not as complete classification, nor even as any classification, and a single and the earlier reference is in most cases only used.


1. Early and late melons, as also winter melons, are described by Amatus in 1554; summer and winter by Bauhin in 1623.

2. White and red fleshed are described by Amatus in 1554; yellow fleshed by Dodonaeus in 1616; green fleshed by Marcgrav in 1648; green, golden, pale yellow, and ashen, by Bauhin in 1623.

3. Sugar melons are named sucrinos by Ruellius in 1536; succrades rouges and succrades blanches by Chabraeus in 1677; and succrius and succredes by Dalechampius in 1587.

4. Netted melons are named by Camerarius in 1586, as also the ribbed. The warted are mentioned in the Adversaria in 1570; rough, warted, and smooth by Bauhin in 1623.

5. The round, long, oval, and pear-form by Gerarde in 1597; the quince form by Dalechampius in 1587; the oblong by Dodonasus in 1616; the round, oblong, depressed, or flat by Bauhin in 1623.

1895

The quality of melons varies widely, even in the same variety, under different conditions of growth, as was well known in 1513, when a Spanish author, Henera,  says, "If the melon is good, it is the best fruit that exists, and none other is preferable to it.  If it is bad, it is a bad thing. We are wont to say that the good are like good women, and the bad like bad women."


The melon reached America nearly with the discovery, for in 1494 ripe melons are recorded as grown by the companions of Columbus.  
Below: Video - 3.5 minutes
Juan Sánchez Cotán, 1560--1627
Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber
ca. 1602


  • In 1516 "melons different from those here" are mentioned in Central America, but perhaps not the melon, but a cucurbit. 
  • In 1535, however, Cartier speaks of "musk melons"on the St. Lawrence.  
  • In New Mexico, melons are named by Gomara in 1540, and also 1542.
  • In 1565, melons were abounding in Hayti. 
  • In 1582 de Espijo speaks of melons and pumpkins as grown by the Indians of New Mexico; 
  • in 1584 as found in Virginia" by Captains Amidos and Barlow; and again as muskemelons in 1609.; 
  •  In 1609 also they were seen on the Hudson River, and are described as abundant in New England by Master Graves" in 1629, as also by Woods.

In 1806 McMahon names thirteen kinds under American culture. At the present time at least a hundred different names of varieties can be collected.

The melon or muskmelon is called
  • in France and Spain, melon; 
  • in Germany, melone; 
  • in Flanders and Holland, moloen; 
  • in Italy, popone, melone
  • in Portugal, melas; 
  • in Greece, peponia; 
  • in Russia, dina 
  • in Norway, melon
  • in Arabic, beteekh, kirboozeh, domeyri, dremmaijre
  • in Bengali, kerbooja, khurbuz phuti
  • in Burmah, tha-khwahmwae; 
  • in Comanche Indian, pehena; 
  • in Ceylon, rata-komadu; 
  • in Hindustani, karbooja; 
  • in Japan, tenkwa, kara uri; 
  • in Malay, labofrangee, 
  • in Persia, kharbuza, 
  • in Sindh, gidhro , 
  • in Tagalo, tabogo ; 
  • in Tamil, molam; 
  • in Tartar and Turkish, kaun. 







Mint. Mentha viridis L.

This garden herb was well known to the ancients, and is mentioned in all early mediaeval lists of plants.

 Amatus Lusitanus in 1554 says it is always in gardens, and later botanists confirm this statement for Europe.

It was in American gardens in 1806, and probably far earlier, for it was collected by Clayton in Virginia about 1739 as a naturalized plant.

Mint, green mint, or spearmint is called
  • in France menthe vert;
  • in Spain, hierva buena, ortelana;
  • in Italy, menta; 
  • in Germany, muntz;
  • in Arabic, nahanaha ;
  • in the Mauritius, menthe;
  • in India, podeena ;
  • in the Deccan, pahari-poodenah?





Mugwort. Artemisia vulgaris L.

This plant, of insignificant use, is yet included among the plants of the garden by European writers. The leaves are strong, bitter, and aromatic, and are sometimes used for seasoning.


It was formerly employed to a great extent for flavoring beer, before the introduction of the hop, and the leaves are said to have been used for food in China in the fourteenth century.


 It is as yet scarcely in the vegetable garden, and it is unnecessary to inquire when the first entry was effected.

The mugwort is called
  • in France, armoise, couronne de St. Jean, herbe a cent gonts; (I think that is a typo and it should be gouts; "herb if 100 tastes" perhaps?)
  • in Germany, beifuss;
  • in Holland, bijvoet;
  • in Italy, santolina;
  • in Arabic, artemasaya, utmeesa;
  • in Hindustani, nagdowna;
  • in Persia, birunjasif;
  • in Telugu, davanamu;
  • in Japan, gai or jamogi.



Dictionary of Plant Lore By D.C. Watts

This is a super reference on folklore of mugwort!  Worth reading...fun.
I thought the above "recipe" was interesting. (I lost what it is from...)  And this following snippet from The Western Herbal Tradition: 2000 Years of Medicinal Plant Knowledge is fascinating!

Mustard. Sinapis sp.

Mustard was well known to the ancients, but the use seems to have been more medicinal than dietetic, yet Apicius, about 230 A. D., makes frequent uses of it in his receipts on cookery, and in an edict of Diocletian, A. D. 301, it is mentioned along with alimentary substances. In Europe, during the middle ages, mustard was used with the salted meats which formed such a large portion of the winter diet of our ancestors.  It is, however, as a vegetable that we treat of it here.


Sinapis alba L.—White mustard is grown in gardens for the young leaves, which are used in salads, and about London is grown in gardens to a large extent. In 1542 Fuchsius, a German writer, says it is planted everywhere in gardens. In 1597, in England, Gerarde says it is not common, but he has distributed the seed, so that he thinks it is reasonably well known.

 It is mentioned in American gardens in 1806.

White mustard, or Salad mustard, is called 
  • in France, moutarde blanche, moutardin, plante an beurre, seneve blanc;
  • in Germany, gelber senf;
  • in Flanders, witte mostaard;
  • in Holland, gele mosterd or mostaard;
  • in Italy, senapa bianca;
  • in Spain, mostaza blanca;
  • in Greece, agriourouva, napi, sinapi;
  • in China, kai kie.


Sinapis nigra L.—The black mustard is described as a garden plant by Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century, and is mentioned by the botanists of the sixteenth century.

 It is, however, more grown as a field crop for its seed, from which the mustard of commerce is derived, yet finds place also as a salad plant. Two varieties are described, the black mustard of Sicily and the large-seeded black.

 It was in American gardens in 1806 or earlier.

Black mustard, brown mustard, or red mustard is called 
  • in France, moutarde noire, navuce rouge, russebau, seneve noir;
  • in Germany, brauner senf;
  • in Flanders, zwarte mustaard;
  • in Holland, bruine mosterd;
  • in Spain, mostaza nigra ;
  • in Italy, senape, senapi.

Mustard.— Chinese Cabbage-Leaved.—This vegetable, the species not indicated, is described by Vilmorin as under European culture, and he says that in warm countries it forms one of the most highly esteemed green vegetables. 

In China Sinapis brassicata L. is said to be cultivated abundantly and S. chinensis L. to occur in Cochin-China in two varieties. S. pekinensis Lour. was introduced to France from China in 1837. This plant, says Livingston, is more extensively used by all classes of the Chinese than any other,—perhaps than all the others together. It is carried about the public streets for sale, boiled, in which state its smell is extremely offensive to Europeans. 

It is recorded as in the United States by Burr in 1863. In Portugal its seeds were sown by Loureiro on his return from Cochin China in the eighteenth century.

http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seeds_salad_leaf_mustard.html


page 677




































Friday, July 15, 2016

1794 - Hypochondriacal Passion - Old News About Dandelions

Culpepper
Nicholas Culpepper is a well known and beloved herbalist. 

 When looking for interesting illustrations for this post I came across this 1883 description of Culpepper's writing style in a book about a gentleman who was led into botanizing by, among other fortuitous events,  the ownership of Culpepper's Herbal.  Since I agree wholeheartedly, here is an excerpt from William Jolly's work.
Before this meeting, however, John's (John Duncan) knowledge of plants was neither small nor uninteresting, as it could scarcely be with so humorous and practical a master as Culpepper. We have seen how he began the study while yet in his teens, during his apprenticeship at Drumlithie, and how he early purchased a copy of Culpepper. 
Notwithstanding his strange-looking name, Culpepper was an Englishman, born in London in 1616, and dying in 1654. His book is curious and interesting, bearing on its front that it contains "nearly four hundred medicines made from English herbs, physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to man, with rules for compounding them," by "Nicholas Culpepper, Student in Physic and Astrology." 
Of each plant, it gives a description, sometimes pretty minute, though popular and unscientific; the places where it was to be found; its flowering time; its "government," according to the astrological influences under which it should be gathered, to possess potency ; and its "virtues" or the diseases it was held to cure, with directions for preparation and use. It contains a deal of queer, old world learning. 
Nicholas Culpepper's style is quaint, with a touch of biblical antiqueness, often dryly humorous, and not seldom rudely outspoken. 
He does not describe the elder tree, for instance, " since every boy that plays with a popgun will not mistake another tree instead of it;"   he says that if eyebright " was but as much used as it is neglected, it would half spoil the spectacle-maker's trade ;" and that the common practice of applying a medicine in one part of the body to affect another, is "as proper as for me when my toe is sore to lay a plaister on my nose."  
He gives curious personal details, as his curing his own daughter of the king's evil with pilewort. He tells us, "Mars loves no cowards, nor Saturn fools, nor I neither."   He essays practical philosophy and kindly moralizing.  
Fuchs - 1543
For example, he wishes 
  • "gentlewomen would keep butter-burr preserved, to help their poor neighbours, as it is fit the rich should help the poor, for the poor cannot help themselves ;"  
  • "let no man," says he, "despise cinquefoil, because it is plain and easy-the ways of God are all such;" 
  •  "seven years' care and fear makes a man never the wiser nor a farthing richer; 
  • "he that reads this, and understands what he reads, hath a jewel of more worth than a diamond."

He leaves a remedy to the world, "not caring a farthing whether they like or dislike it; the grave equals all men, and therefore will equal me with all princes, until which time the Eternal Providence is over me ; then the ill tongue of a prating fellow, or one that hath more tongue than wit or more proud than honest, shall never trouble me: wisdom is justified by her children: and so much for wormwood."
 He talks facetiously of Dr. Tradition, Dr. Reason, Dr. Experience, Dr. Ignorance, Dr. Folly, and Dr. Sickness. Altogether, the good Culpepper aims at being at once the " guide, philosopher, and friend" of his disciples. 
Certainly,  he cannot be accused of ever being wearisome, obscure, or dull.

I did not know what the king's evil was.I find it was the swelling of lymph nodes due to tuberculosis.  (Caution: slightly disturbing vintage photo of a child's head with swellings.)

Now, on to Culpepper's thoughts on dandelions!! 
By the way, when posting portions of any book or article I break up paragraphs for easier reading online.  I have also changed all the letters "s", written in the style of that day as  "f"s,  back into an "s".  Original scan posted at end of this post.

From Culpepper:

DANDELION, VULGARLY called piss-a-beds.
Description. IT is well known to have many long and deeply-gashed leaves lying on the ground, round about the head of the root; the ends of each gash or jag on both sides, looking down towards the root, the middle rib being white, which, broken, yieldeth abundance of bitter milk, but the root much more.

From among the leaves, which always abide green, arise many slender, weak, naked, footstalks, every one of them bearing at the top one large yellow flower, consisting of many rows of yellow leaves, broad at the points, and nicked in, with a deep spot of yellow in the middle; which growing ripe, the green husk wherein the flower stood turneth itself down to the stalk, and the head of down becometh as round as a ball, with long reddish seed underneath, bearing a part of the down on the head of every one, which together is blown away with the wind, or may at once be blown away with one's mouth. 
 The root groweth downwards exceeding deep, which, being broken off within the ground, will, notwithstanding, shoot forth again; and will hardly be destroyed when it hath once taken deep root in the ground. 

Place.  
It groweth frequent in all meadows and pasture grounds.

Time.  
It flowereth in one place or other almost all the year long.


Government And Virtues. 
 It is under the dominion of Venus. It is of an opening and cleansing quality, and therefore very effectual for the obstructions of the liver, gall, and spleen, and the diseases that arise from them, as the jaundice and hypochondriacal passion.

It wonderfully openeth the passage of urine, both in young and old; it powerfully cleanseth aposthumes, and inward tumours in the urinary passages, and by the drying and temperate quality doth afterwards heal them; for which purpose the decoction of the roots or leaves in white wine, or the leaves chopped as pot-herbs with a few alisanders, and boiled in their broth, is very effectual. And whoever is drawing towards consumption, or an evil disposition of the whole body, called cachexia, by the use hereof for some time together will find a wonderful help.

It helpeth also to procure rest and sleep to bodies distempered by the heat of ague fits, or otherwise; the distilled water is effectual to drink in pestilential fevers, and to wash the sores.
You see here what virtues this common herb hath, and that is the reason the French and Dutch so often eat them in the spring, and now, if you look a little farther, you may plainly perceive that foreign physicians are more liberal in communicating their knowledge of the virtues of plants than the English.


English physician - Page 102 

https://books.google.com/books?id=l3EFAAAAQAAJ


Thursday, July 14, 2016

1836 - Deacon Corey's "Grafted Dandelions"


Deacon Corey was a man full of energy, a Brookline Massachusetts farmer and Baptist deacon who put his hard earned money where his mouth was when it came to improving his community.
He first came to my notice in this amusing bit of leafy history.


PROFITABLE VEGETABLE CULTURE.

At a recent meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, a discussion on profitable vegetable culture took place.    William D. Philbrick had been appointed to lead the discussion, and said that the Dandelion holds the first rank in the list of spring greens.  

Its earliness, the mild and pleasant bitterness of its flavour, its healthfulness as an article of food, the ease with which it is grown, and the certainty with which it produces a crop in our changeable climate combine to give it a first place in favour both with marketmen and consumers. 

 It is only recently that the dandelion has been much cultivated, and when the attempt was first made it caused considerable merriment. The first man who cultivated for Boston market was Deacon Corey, of Brookline, who began about 1836. 
The marketmen of that time used to call them “Deacon Corey's grafted dandelions.”  Now they are grown by the acre. The seed was at first obtained by selecting the largest of the wild dandelions ; lately, however, the French dandelion has been generally used, being larger, and since its introduction it has been much improved in colour and appearance. 

The dandelion is always treated as an annual by the gardeners, who plough under the old roots as soon as the crop is taken, and use the land for melons or squashes, for the crop produced from old roots is much inferior to what is grown from young ones.

Looking at the map above you can see that Boston's Back Bay had not yet been filled in making it difficult for many farmers to get their goods into the city. 
 "Before the Back Bay in Boston was filled there was no direct access to north Brookline from the east until a road was constructed over the mill dam in 1829. "
Deacon Corey would have benefited greatly in 1836 from this new road.

The following information is an excerpt from an 1874 book, Historical Sketches of Brookline, Massby Harriet F. Woods.  It is very readable for that sort of thing!   Elijah Corey did many good things besides develop Boston's taste for alternative greens.  
First, though, I am including some photos of Brookline from around the time Deacon Corey was taking his improved dandelion greens into Boston.
Brookline History

Cypress Street, which was originally the New Lane, was created in the17th century for residents of North Brookline to be able to get to the Meeting House...Google kmz download




http://brooklinehistory.blogspot.com/

Elijah Corey, afterwards the deacon, married, when quite young, Polly Leeds of Dorchester... This was in November, 1797.   The "wedding visit" (the old time name for a " Reception") was a gay affair for those times, and a quiet farming place, as Brookline was then. Almost everybody in the town was invited, and there was the inspiriting music of a fife and drum. 
There was not much finery in those days, but what there was, was conspicuous on this occasion. An old citizen tells us that his mother, then young and fair, wore a new white silk hat, with white feathers, almost exactly in the style of those worn by young ladies the present season. 
Mr. William Ackers, the former owner of the Fisher place on the corner of Boylston Street, used to relate an incident of his own participation in this ancient wedding.  He was a stylish young man in those days, and had had black satin " small-clothes," ordered for the occasion, but as he was leaving his own house, a sudden slip in the muddy yard brought his satin finery to utter discomfiture, and he was forced to go back and make his toilet anew, in plainer garb. 
 The old house (lately the Bartlett house) was crowded with merry guests and the cheerful occasion was an event long talked of afterwards. ...
Deacon Elijah Corey was left a widower in 1827, and in 1829 married the widow of Captain Robert S. Davis.
The causeway across the valley from Washington Street to the steep hillside was built by Deacon Corey about fifty years ago. At the entrance of it stood a barn, underneath which was a cider-mill. This barn was destroyed by fire several years since.
All the Coreys of three generations have been farmers and have been considered shrewd, practical men. The two brothers, Elijah and Timothy, were among the first projectors of the Baptist Church enterprise in this town, and to that purpose devoted time, labor, and money.
None who were familiar with the old Baptist vestry will ever forget Deacon Elijah Corey's voice and manner in his old age. If the meeting flagged and there was an awful silence, Deacon Corey would strike out in a high key, " Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove," to the tune of Turner, or St. Martin's, or " Life is the time to serve the Lord," to the tune of Wells, or some other familiar old hymn, and by the time he had sung a line or two, other voices joined in and the solo became, not lost in, but a part of, a chorus.
His exhortations abounded in striking metaphors and strong language, frequently beginning with, "Brethren,  a thought struck me," and he usually made the thought strike his hearers before he finished.      He often ended an exhortation with the desire that the Lord would " make our souls like the chariots of Amminadib" (Song of Solomon vi. 12).    But in what respect this would have been desirable, was not apparent to the listeners; and we often wondered what the good deacon's idea of such a condition of soul might be. There is no question, however, but that all through his life he had at heart not only the building up of his church here but of the denomination to which he belonged, not only here but abroad....He died in May, 1859, aged eighty-six, and was buried from the Baptist Church. A bunch of apple-blossoms, a fit tribute to one who had been all his life a farmer, was the only floral offering laid upon his breast. 
Pg. 54The congregation at once became so large that their little new chapel would not hold them, and steps were soon taken to build a church. The five gentlemen above mentioned agreed to build it at their own expense, and each give a certain percentage of the whole cost, whatever it might be.
Deacon E. Corey pledged forty per cent. (that's our man!), Deacon T. Corey and Deacon Griggs each twenty per cent., and the others each ten. The church was built at a cost of about six thousand dollars; a few friends who had moved in gave from ten to a hundred dollars each, and the work was paid for. But there was no room for sheds, and hardly room enough to walk around the church on the west side, on their own ground which they had now bought.
At last the owner of the much desired piece of land, seeing that the church was built, signified his willingness to sell for a sufficient bonus.
Deacon Corey offered fifty bushels of corn, in addition to what was asked in money, and his offer was accepted.  The land was secured, the sheds built, a strip west of them now in Mr. Panter's yard was sold to Mr. Holden, the next owner on that side, and thenceforward the Baptist ship sailed in smooth water.
The meeting-house was dedicated November 20, 1828.  But the little chapel stood in front of it, and the gallows-like hay-scales in front of that. The hay-scales were bought and taken down, the chapel moved to the rear of the church and altered over into a parsonage; it still stands with additions and improvements, next south of the present church. The green in front of the church was fenced and planted with trees, and soon became a very attractive spot.

1941 - Seeds Go To War

I was cruising the Library of Congress images and came across this nice silkscreen print.  

Sometimes I wish I had a bigger house so I'd have more walls to hang things on.  This WWII poster makes me feel good.






  • Title: Grow it yourself Plan a farm garden now.
  • Creator(s): Bayer, Herbert, 1900-1985, artist
  • Related Names:
       United States. Rural Electrification Administration , sponsor
  • Date Created/Published: NYC : NYC WPA War Services, [between 1941 and 1943]
  • Medium: 1 print (poster) : silkscreen, color.
  • Summary: Poster for the U.S. Department of Agriculture promoting victory gardens, showing carrots, lettuce, corn, tomatoes, and potatoes growing.

Monday, July 11, 2016

1888 - Kohl-rabi to Lettuce - Part 12 of Sturtevant's History of Garden Vegetables


Published November 1, 1888
https://archive.org/details/jstor-2451274

 (Continued from page 808.)

 Kohl-rabi. Brassiea oleracea caulo-rapa, D C.
It is now found as Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group if you are looking it up.
I FIND no certain identification of this race in the ancient writings.
The bunidia of Pliny seems rather to be the ruta baga, as he says it is between a radish and a rape.
The goggulis of Theophrastus and Galen seems also to be the rutabaga, for Galen says the root contained within the earth is hard, unless cooked.    

In 1558 Matthiolus speaks of the kohl-rabi as having lately came into Germany from Italy. Between 1573 and 1575 Rauwolf saw it in the gardens of Tripoli and Aleppo.  Lobel in 1570, Camerarius in 1586, Dalechamp  in 1587, and other of the older botanists, all figure or describe it as under European culture.

 This plant, in the view of some writers, is a cross between the cabbage and the rape, and many of the names applied to it convey this idea. This view is probably a mistaken one, as the plant in its sportings under culture tends to the form of the marrow cabbage, from which it is probably a derivation.

 In 1884, in two plants in pots in the greenhouse, I had good kohl-rabi bulbs, and one of these extended itself until it became a marrow cabbage, and when planted out in the spring attained its growth as a marrow cabbage. This idea of its origin finds countenance in the figures of the older botanists, thus Camerarius, in 1586, figures a plant as a kohl-rabi which in all essential points resembles a marrow cabbage, being tapering from a small stem into a long kohl-rabi, with a flat top like the marrow cabbage.

 The figures given by Lobel, in 1591, Dodonseus,  in 1616, and Bodseus,  in 1644, when compared with Camerarius' figure, suggest the marrow cabbage.

A long highly improved form, not now under culture, is figured by Gerarde in 1597, J. Bauhin,  in 1651, and Chabreeus,  in 1677, and the modern form is given by Gerarde, and by Matthiolus  in 1598.   A very unimproved form, out of harmony with the other figures, is given by Dalechamp,  in 1587, and Castor Durante,  in 1617.


This synonymy can be tabulated in order as below: 

 1. Caulorapum. Cam. epit., 1586, 251.

2. Rapa, Br. peregrina, caule rapum gerens. Lob. ic, 1591, 246.
    Br. caule rapum gerens. Dod. pempt., 1616, 625.
    Rapa brassica. Bodseus, 1644, 777.

3. Caulo rapum longum. Ger., 1597, 250. 3. 
    Br. caulorapa. J. Bauh., 1651, ii., 830. 
    Br. caulorapa sive Rapo caulis. Chabr., 1677, 270.

4. Caulorapum rotundum. Ger., 1597, 250. 
    Brassica gongylodes. Matth. op., 1598, 367.

5. Brassica raposa. Lugd., 1587, 522. 
    Bradica raposa. Cast. Dur., 1617, app. 

 Matthiolus, as we have stated, says the plant came into Germany from Italy ; Pena and Lobel say it came from Greece ; Gerarde, that it groweth in Italy, Spain and Germany, from whence he received seeds. 

These excerpts indicate a southern origin for this vegetable, and the marrow cabbages are very sensitive to cold. The more highly improved forms, as figured in our synonymy, are in authors of northern or central Europe, while the unimproved forms are given by more southern writers. This indicates that the present kohl-rabi received its development in northern countries. 

 The varieties now grown are the white and purple, in early and late forms, the curled leaf, or Neapolitan, and the artichoke-leaved. One, at least, was in American gardens as early as 1806, and the rest appear before 1863.

The nomenclature of this plant is deserving of attention, from the presence of foreign words, for which its history seems to afford but little justification. The kohl-rabi, Turnip-rooted cabbage, Arabian, cole rape, cole turnip, Cape cabbage, or Hungarian turnip, is called

  • in France choux-raves, chou de Siam, boule de Siam
  • in Germany, oberkohlrabi; 
  • in Flanders, raapkool; 
  • in Holland, koolraapen boven den grond
  • in Denmark, overjordisk kohlrabi, kundekaal; 
  • in Italy, cavolo rapa, torsi; 
  • in Spain, col rabanho; 
  • in Portugal, couve rabano, couve de Siam; 
  • in Norway, overjords-kaalrabi
  • in India, ole hole, or gool jur ka kuhun. 

Lavender. Lavandula vera D C.

 Lavender is sometimes grown for the use of the leaves as a condiment, but more often for the flowers, which find use in perfumery; but we have never heard of its being grown on a large scale in the United States, although it was in garden culture in 1806. 

 Its present growing is doubtless very insignificant. There is no satisfactory identification of lavender in the writings of the ancients, although it seems to have been well known to the botanists of the sixteenth century, and the use of the perfume was indicated as early as the fourteenth century, and as a medicine even in the twelfth century.

Its seed was in English seedsmen's lists of 1726, for garden culture. 

Lavender is called -  
in France lavande, aspic, lavande femelle ; 
in Germany, lavendel, spike; 
in Flanders, lavendel; 
in Denmark, lavendel; 
in Italy, lavanda; 
in Spain, espliego 





Lavandula spica L., a more southern species, is confounded with the above in cultivation, and is also cultivated on a large scale for purposes of distillation.

Mawe, in 1778, named four varieties,

  • the narrow-leaved with blue flowers,
  • the narrow-leaved with white flowers, 
  • the broad-leaved and 
  • the Dwarf. 


















This vegetable was the prason of the ancient Greeks, the porrum of the Romans, who distinguished two kinds, the eapitatum, or leek, and the sectilis, or chives, perhaps, although Columella,  Pliny  and Palladius  indicate these as forms of the same plant brought about through difference of culture, the chive-like form being produced by thick planting. They seem to have been very popular at Rome. 

In Europe the leek was generally known throughout the middle ages, and in the earlier botanies some of the figures of the leek represent the two kinds of planting alluded to by the Roman writers. In England, in 1726, Townsend  says that "leeks are mightily used in the kitchen for broths and sauces.

When they reached America I do not find recorded, but prior to 1775 they were grown at Mobile, Ala., and were cultivated by the Choctaw Indians.  The leek may vary considerably by culture, and often attains quite a large size ; one with the blanched portion a foot long and nine inches in circumference, and the leaf fifteen inches in breadth and three feet in length, has been recorded. 


Vilmorin  described eight varieties in 1883, but
some of these are scarcely distinct.
 (These 6 are reasonably different,
especially if you are a leek aficionado.)


 

The leek, or porret,  is called: 
in France poireau, poiree, poirette, porreau
in Flanders and Holland, prei
in Germany, lauoh, porree
in Denmark, porre ; 
in Italy, porro ; 
in Spain, puerro ;
 in Portugal, alho porro ; 
in Greece, to prasa ; 
in Sweden, puris ; 
in Russia, pros; 
in Norway, purre. 
In Arabic, karrat or Jcour- nas; 
in Bengali, puroo ;
in Egypt, korrat
in India, kundaneh, zalook or puroo
in Persian, gundena

 This species is supposed by authors to be a cultivated form of Allium ampeloprasum L. 

 Lentil. Ervum lens L.

The cultivation of the Lentil is very ancient, as it has been found in the Egyptian tombs of the twelfth dynasty, or 2,200 to 2,400 B.C.

It has also been found in the lacustrine debris of Switzerland dating from the age of bronze.  Its culture was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and has been continued through the middle ages to the present time. New word for me..."lacustrineof, relating to, or associated with lakes".

 Bauhin,  in 1623 names a large and a small sort, the seed reddish, pale yellow, White, tawny and black, and Vilmorin,  in 1883, describes four varieties for garden culture. 

Its seed is used in soups and stews, and the culture is of more importance in the warmer regions. Lentils are recorded by Burr,  in 1863, for American use; but much of the seed found exposed for sale in groceries is imported. 
The lentil is called:
in France lentille, arousse, aroufle;

in Germany, linse;

in Flanders and Holland, linze; 

in Denmark, lindse ; 

in Italy, lente, lenticchia; 

in Spain, lenteja; 

in Portugal, lentilha.

In Arabic, a'ds ;

in Egypt, adz ;

in India, mussoor ;

in Sanscrit, mussoora ;

in Latin, lens ;

in Slav, lesha ;

in Illyrian, lechja ;

in Lithuanian, lenszic;

the Greeks, fakos or fakai;
the Berbers, ades. 


 Lettuce. Lactuca sativa L.
(I have to confess I am not looking too hard for lettuce art as I plan to post Sturtevants paper on lettuce, in which he goes into greater detail.)

This, the best of all salad plants, as a cultivated plant has a high antiquity.  

It is evident, by an anecdote related by Herodotus, that it appeared at the royal tables of the Persian kings about 550 B.C.    The medicinal properties as a food-plant was noted by Hippocrates, 2430 B.C.,   praised by Aristotles, 356 B.C.,    and the species described by Theophrastus, 322 B.C., Dioscorides, 60 A.D., and mentioned by Galen,  164 A.D., who gives an idea of a very general use. 

Among the Romans it was very popular. Columella, A.D. 42, describes the Caecilian, Cappadocian, Cyprian and Tartesan.   Pliny, A.D. 79, enumerates the alba, Caecilian, Cappadocian, crispa, Graeca, Laconicon, nigra, purpurea and rubens.  Palladius,  210 A.D., implies varieties, and mentions the process of blanching.   Martial, A.D. 101, gives to the lettuces of Cappadocia the term viles, or cheap, implying abundance.

In China its presence can be identified in the fifth century.  In England, Chaucer, about 1340, uses the word in his prologue, "well loved he garlic, onions and lettics," and it is likewise mentioned by Turner,  in 1538, who spells the word lettuse. It is mentioned as cultivated in Isabella Island, in 1494, by Peter Martyr,  as also in Mexico at a later date; is noted as abundant in Hayti in 1565,  etc. 

In the report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for 1885, eighty-seven varieties are fully described with 585 names or synonyms. Vilmorin describes, in 1883, one hundred and thirteen kinds as distinct.

The number of varieties named by various writers at various times are as follows:
(This is an interesting way to look at lettuce history!, showing cultural preferences.)
For France,
  • in 1612, six; 
  • in 1690, twenty-one; 
  • in 1829, forty; 
  • in 1883, one hundred and thirteen. 
For Holland, 
  • in 1720, forty-seven. 
For England, 
  • in 1597, six; 
  • in 1629, nine; 
  • in 1726, nine; 
  • in 1763, fifteen; 
  • in 1765, eighteen; 
  • in 1807, fourteen. 
In America, 
  • in 1806, sixteen; 
  • in 1885, eighty-seven. 

The cabbage and cos lettuces are the sorts now principally grown, but various other kinds, such as the curled, are frequently, and the sharp-leaved, oak-leaved, etc., occasionally, as novelties. In this large class, I shall content myself with offering the synonymy of a few of the varieties now known, and which shall indicate the antiquity of our cultivated types.   

I. 
The Lanceolate-leaved Type
  • Lactuca longifolia. Bauh. phytopin., 1596, 200.
  • Lattuga franzese. Cast. Dur., 1617, 244, cum ic. 
  • Lactuca folio oblongo acuto. Bauh. pin., 1623, 125; prod., 1671, 60, cum ic. 
  • Lactuca longo at valde angusto folio. J. Bauh.,1651, ii.,999, cum ic.; Chabr.,1677, 313, cum ic. 
  • Deer Tongue. Greg., 1883. 

 II. 
The Cos Type
 Pena and Lobel, in 1570, say that this form is but rarely grown in France and Germany, although
common in the gardens of Italy; and Heuze  says it was brought from Rome to France by Rabelais in 1537. 

  •  Lactura florescens. Cam. epit., 1586, 299, cum ic. 
  •  Lactuca intybacea, Lombard Lettuce. Ger., 1597, 240, cum ic.  (illustration to right)
  •  Lactuca foliis endivise. Matth. op., 1598, 399, cum ic. 
  •  Lactuca Romana louga dulcis. J. Bauh., 1651, ii., 998, cum ic. ; Chabr., 1677, 313, cum ic. 
  •  La Romaine. Le Jard. Solit., 1612. 
  •  Romaines. Vil„ 1883, 307. 

We can reasonably believe the lettuce of Camerarius to be very close to the Florence Cos. The Lombard lettuce was grown as a sport in the garden of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, in 1886, and the figures by Bauhin and Chabraeus may well be the Paris Cos. 

I would not be understood, however, as implying that these figures represent the improved forms of our present culture, but as the prototypes from which our plants have appeared, as shown not only by resemblance of leaf form, but through the study of variables in the garden. 


Ray, in 1686, describes the Cos as having light green and dark green varieties, and these, as well as the Spotted Cos, are indicated by Bauhin in 1623.



 III. 
The Headed Lettuce. 

 This is the sort commonly grown, and the figures given in the sixteenth century indicate that the heading habit was even then firmly established. 

We have the following synonyms to offer, premising that types are referred to, and not exact variety resemblance : —

 a

  •  Lactuca crispa. Matth., 1558, 264 ; Pin., 1561, 195. 
  •  Lattuga. Cast. Dur., 1617, 243. 
  •  Laroyale? Le Jard. Solit., 1612; Quintyne, 1690, etc. 
  •  Laitve Blonde de Berlin, syn. Laitve royale. Vil., 1883, 295. 
  •  Berlin. 

 b. 

  •  Lactuca sativa sessilis sive capitata. Lob. ic, 1591, i., 242. 
  •  Lactuca capitata. Bod., 1616, 645. 
  •  Very Early Dwarf Green. 

 c.




  •  Lactuca. Cam. epit., 1586, 298.  
  •  Lactuca capitata. Ger., 1597, 240. 
  •  Lactuca crispa. Matth. op., 1598, 399. 
  •  Batavians. Vil., 1883. d. Lattich. Roszlin, i550, 167. 
  •  Green Fringed.    This latter identification is from the appearance of the young plant. The old plant is remarkably different, forming a true rosette. 


 IV. 
Cutting and Miscellaneous. 

a. 

  • Lactuca crispa altera. Ger., 1597, 240. 
  • Lactuca crispa et tenuiter dissecta. J. Bauh., 1651, ii., 1000; Chabr., 1677,314. 
  • Curled Cutting.
 b. 

  •  Lactuca foliis querni. Bay, 1686, 219.
  •  Oak-leaved.
 c. 

  • Capitatam cum pluribus capitibus. J. Bauh., 1651, ii., 998; Chabr., 1677, 313.  
  • Egyptian Sprouting. 

The minor variations which are now separated into varieties did not receive the same recognition in former times, the same variety  name covering what now would be several varieties; thus Quintyne, in 1693, calls perpignans both a green and a pale form, etc.   Green, light green, dark green, red and spotted lettuces are named in the old botanies; hence we cannot assert any new types have appeared in modern culture. 

 The generic names of the lettuce in the various languages are : 
  • in Greek, thridahine, thridakinos, thridax hemeros; 
    DODIE THAYER LETTUCE-FORM LIDDED TUREEN.
    I want this! 
  • in Latin, Lactuca
  • in France, laitue cultivee
  • in Germany, lattich; 
  • in Flanders and Holland, latouw; 
  • in Denmark, salat; 
  • in Italy, lattuga; 
  • in Spain, leehuga, ensiam; 
  • in Portugal, alface; 
  • in Sweden, Denmark and Russia, lalduk;
  • in Norway, salat ;
  • in Arabic, Mass  or khus;
  •  in Ceylon, salada;
  • in China, ye tsai, kiu,  sheng-tsai, pai-ku;
  • in Cochin China, rau, diep tau;
  • in Egypt, chaff
  • in Hindustani, kahoo; 
  • in India, kahoo; 
  • in Japan, hantats, futsu kusa, too ts:isa. 

HISTORY OF GARDEN VEGETABLES.
 BY E. LEWIS STURTEVANT, M.D.
1888