Monday, August 8, 2016

1890 - Portugal Cabbage to Rocambole - Part 16 of Sturtevant's HISTORY OF GARDEN VEGETABLES







 (Continued from p. 157, Vol. XXIV., 1890.)

Remember, to see the footnotes to find the books he used, go to the link above.
When I insert my comments I try to remember to do it in red type.

 Portugal cabbage. Brassica oleracea costata D.C. 


 THIS cabbage is easily recognizable through the great expansion of the midribs and veins of the leaf, in some cases forming quite half of the leaf, and the midrib losing its identity in the multitude of radiating branching veins.

In some plants the petioles are winged clear to the base. Nearly all the names applied to this form indicate its distribution, at least in late years, from Portugal, from whence it reached English gardens about 1821, and in American gardens, under the name of Portugal Cabbage, about 1850.

It should be remarked, however, that a Choux a la grosse cote was in French gardens in 1612, and in three varieties in 1824.  

This cabbage varies in a direction parallel to that of the common cabbage, or has forms which can be classed with the kales, and the heading cabbages of at least two types. The peculiarity of the ribs or veins occasionally appears among the variables from the seed of the common cabbage, whence atavism as the result of a cross can be reasonably inferred. 

As to the origin of this form, our opinion, at the present stage of our studies, must be largely speculative, but we may reasonably believe that it originated from a different form or a different set of hybridizations than did the common cabbage. 
Most current seed companies call it Tronchuda Kale.
The names are:
  • in English,  braganza, portugal or sea-kale cabbage,  large-ribbed cabbage,  large-ribbed borecole, tranxuda,  couve tronchuda ;
  • in France, choux a grosses cotes, chou tronchuda ;
  • in Spain, col de pezon, col tronchuda ;
  • in Portugal, couve tronchuda, couve mantiega, couve penca 

 The synonymy appears to be: 

Choux a le grosse cote. Le Jard. Solit, 161 2. 
Chou blond a grosses cotes. Bosc. Diet., 1789, 4, 43. 
Brassica oleracea aceppala costata. D.C. Syst, 2, 584. 
B. oleracea costata. D.C. Mem., 182 1, 12. 
Chou a grosse cotes. Vilm., 1883. 
There is a nice blog post on From Seed to Table about growing and preparing couve tronchuda.  Yum!  
This short video is worth watching to see various brassica plants, including the tronchuda cabbage. 




Pot marigold. Calendula officinalis L.

 The flowers are used in some culinary preparations, and for this purpose it is yet grown in some gardens. It has not been used to any great extent in modern times, and even in 1783 Bryant, while noting its common occurrence in gardens, says that the flowers were formerly in high esteem, being gathered and dried to use in soups and pottage. 

It was in American gardens in 1806. 

The plant was described in nearly all the early botanies, and is mentioned by Albertus Magnus in the 13th century. 

 Pot marigold is called, 
  • in France, sonci des jardins
  • in Germany, ringelblume
  • in Holland, goudbloem
  • in Italy and Spain, calendula
  • in Russia, nogotki ;
  • in Arabia, zobejbe
  • by the Greeks at Constantinople, chamobuoreta
  • in Hindustani, gul-i- mariyam, phirki, genda ; 
  • in Bengali, genda phul
  • in Burma, htat-ta-ya
  • at Lahore, adsrioon
  • in Japan, kin-sen-kwa 

Revue horticole, (1852-1974) [artist - J. Eudes]

Potato. Solanum tuberosum L. 
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, vol. 110 (1884) [illustrator - A. Barnard]

 The varieties of the potato are now innumerable, and while of several distinct types of form and color, are all supposed to have been derived from a common wild progenitor. It is interesting to observe, therefore, that varieties were under culture in South America even before the discovery. 

In a vocabulary of a now extinct tribe, the Chibcha, who once occupied the region about the present Bogota, ten different varieties are identified, one of which, "black inside," has not as yet appeared in modern culture. 

At the present time Vilmorin makes an extremely artificial classification, as follows: 

1. the round yellow varieties; 
2. the long yellow varieties ; 
3. the variegated long yellow varieties; 
4. the round red varieties; 
5. the flat pink or red varieties ; 
6. the smooth long red varieties ;
7. the notched long red varieties ;
8. the violet colored and variegated varieties. 

The yellow and red varieties are mentioned by Bauhin in 1596, "fusci vel atrorubentis," or literally, the tawny and the purple.
In 1726 Townsend mentions the white and the red in England, as does Bryant in 1783.

In 1785, Varlo describes nine sorts,

  1. the white round, 
  2. the red round, 
  3. the large Irish white smooth, 
  4. the large round red, 
  5. the culgee, 
  6. the early-wife, 
  7. the white kidney, 
  8. the bull's-eye red.    Hmmm...that's only 8.


In further description he says the Jerusalem is long and full of eyes, the culgee is red on one side, the early-wife does not blossom, and are of a light-red, and the toadback is nearly akin to the large Irish, the skin almost black, and rough like a russetting ; the kidney is oblong, white with a yellowish cast.

Ah ha!  He forgot the toadback in the list.

In 1806 McMahon describes but one kind for American gardens, but in 1828 Fessenden says there are many varieties, and in 1832 Bridgeman says the varieties are very numerous. In 1848 nearly one hundred sorts were exhibited at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Boston.

Decaisne and Naudin give the number of varieties in France in 1815 as sixty ; in 1855 as four hundred and ninety-three, in 1862 as five hundred and twenty-eight. 

We have grown a number of wild varieties of the potato at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, including the Solanum maglia.  One sort, which has not as yet been identified by us with its specific name, corresponds to the notched class of Vilmorin. The maglia corresponds to the round and oblong flattened forms ; the Jamesii to the round form. The colors of these wild potatoes are said by some growers to include the white, the red, and the variegated. In their habits of growth the maglia forms its tubers deep under the ground, the Jamesii very much scattered and extending a long distance from the plant.
Curtis


 The synonymy of our types can include those described by Vilmorin, as follows, but I have not attempted to make it complete. 





 I. 
Round yellow. Vilm., 1885. 
Round as a ball. Ger., 1597, 781 ; 1633, 927.  
Solanum tuberosum. Blackw. Herb., 1773, pi. 523, b. 
White round. Varlo, Husb., 1785, II., 97.








 II. 
Long yellow. Vilm., 
Ovall or egge fashion. Ger., 1597, 781; 1633, 927. 
Oblonga. Bauh. Prod., 1671, 90. Matth., 1598, 757, cum ic. 
Papas peruanorum. Clus. Rar., 1601, 2,79, cum ic. 



 III. 
Variegated long yellow. Vilm., 1885. 






 IV. 
Round red. Vilm., 1885. 
Pugni magnitudine. Matth., 1598,757. 
Red round. Varlo, Husb., 1785, II., 97. 











 V. 
Flat pink or red. Vilm., 1885. 

 VI. 
Smooth long red. Vilm., 1885. 
Solanum tuberosum. Black w. Herb., 1773, pi. 523, b. 
pale red skin

 VII. 
Notched long red. Vilm., 1885. 
? Membri virilis forma. Bauh. Prod., 1671, 90.






VIII. 
Violet colored and variegated
?Atrorubens. Bauh. Phytopin., 1596, 301.
Solarium tuberosum tuberibus nigricantibus. Blackw. Herb., t. 5 86. 
Toadback. Varlo, Husb., 1785, II., 97.
The toadback is nearly akin to the large Irish (potato). the skin almost black, and rough like a russetting.-The Century Dictionary








The figures I have seen, which seem to me to be referable to the maglia species, are : 
Batata virginiana sive virginianorum pappus. Ger., 1 597, yS 1 . 
Solanum tuberosum esculentum. Matth., op., 1598,758; Bauh. Prod, 1 67 1, 89. 
Arachidna theophrasti forte, Papas peruanorum. Clus. Rar., 1601, 2, 79. 
Papas americanus. Swertius, Florelig., 1612, t. 28, fig. 4. 

The potatoes which are now grown in this country were derived from several sources, from England, and of late years from Bogota  in 1847, from Chili in 1850, etc. 

Potatoes were grown in Virginia in 1609, and are also mentioned in 1648 and 1650.
In 1683 Worlidge  says potatoes are much used in Ireland and America, but their introduction into New England is said not to have been until 1719,  at Londondury, N. H., and at Salem, about 1762.
In 1779, however, potatoes were among the Indian foods destroyed by Gen. Sullivan  during his invasion into Western New York. 

This plant has secured a wide distribution, and has been successfully cultivated throughout nearly the whole world. Its northern limits are in Norway, 71 ° 7'; in Russia, the Pinega River, 65 ; Turukansk, 65; Yakutsk, shores of the Okotsk Sea, Kamchatka, Kadjah Island, Sitka Island; Mackenzie River, ; Canada, Labrador, 58 45'; Greenland.
I liked this as it says potatoes are "roots of less note".
The modern names for the potato are : 
  • In France, pomme de terre, parmentiere, tarlanffe, tartufle, etc. ;
  • in Germany, kartoffle ;
  • in Flanders and Holland, aard appel ;
  • in Denmark, jordepeeren ;
  • in Italy, patata ;
  • in Spain and Portugal, patatas ;
  • in Spanish America, papa ;
  • in Norway, potet ;
  • in India, wvlaetee aloo;
  • in Telinga, alu-guddalu ;
  • in Ceylon, rata-innala ;
  • by the Malays, ubi bungala ;
  • in China, at Pekin, shan-yas-tou ;
  • in southern China, ho-lan-shu

Pumpkin. Cucurbita Sp.    See under Squash. 

Purslane. Portulaca oleracea L.


Common purslane is a weed of the garden, and has spread over nearly the whole world. Whether originally an American plant is in doubt, but certain it is that plants called purslane were seen by the early visitors to the American coast. The cultivated purslane differs from the wild in being erect, and Hooker found in northwest India a variety with erect stalks.  

The use of the purslane as a vegetable is noted in the Greek writers under the name andrachne, and by the Romans under this name and portulaca. In the 13th century Albertus Magnus does not mention culture in gardens, and apparently refers to the wild form, "the stems extending over the soil." 

In 1536 Ruellius  describes the erect, green-leaved, cultivated form, as well as the wild procumbent form, and in this he is followed by many of the succeeding botanists.
Rheede tot Drakestein, H.A. van, Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, vol. 10: t. 36 (1690)
Interesting book as many of the engraved plates cross the fold.
I think it may have been disbound and paper conservation done to the getter.


Three varieties are described, — the green, the golden, and the large-leaved golden. The golden varieties are not mentioned by Bauhin in his phytopinax, 1596, nor in his pinax, 1623, but are mentioned just as if a well-known variety in Le Jardinier Solitaire, 1612. 

The green variety is figured by nearly all the earlier botanists. 

The golden has the following synonymy : 

 Pourpier dore. Le Jard. Solit, 16 1 2, 378; Tourn., 17 19, 236; Vilm., 1883, 518. 
 Red or Golden. Quintyne, 1693, 199. 
 Portidaca sativa lutea sive aurea. Ray, 1688, 1039. 
 Golden purslane. Ray, 1688, 1039; Townsend, 1726, 19; Mawe, 1778; Burr, 1863, 392. 

 Purslane was formerly much more grown than at present ; with Quintyne it was a vegetable for forcing.   It is seldom seen in American gardens, but the spinage from the wild plant is occasionally served at table. 
1825 - Lovely drawing; from Flora Graeca; Sibthrop, J., Smith, JE
 Purslane is called 
  • in France, pour pier, porcelin, porcellane, por- chailles ; 
  • in Germany, portidak, kreusel ; 
  • in Flanders and Holland, postelein, postelijn, porcelein ; 
  • in Denmark, portidak ; 
  • in Italy , porcellana ; 
  • in Spain, verdolaga ; 
  • in Portugal, beldroega ; 
  • in Norway, portidak ; 
  • in Russia, schrucha. 
  •  In Arabia, brabra, chamile, doenneb el f arras, ridjlet el f arras ; 43 37 Hooker. Fl. Br.-Ind., I., 240, ex. D.C. Orig. Des. PI. Cult., 70.  
  • in Arabic, rigleh
  • in Bengali, moony a, buroloonia
  • in Burma, myae-byet; 
  •  in Ceylon, genda-kola ; 
  •  in China, ma chi hien ;
  •  in Cochinchina, rau sam ; 
  • at Constantinople, glisrida
  • in Egypt, baglae, ridjle ; 
  • in India, choolee, mooncha, mo one a, khursa, khurfa ;
  • in Japan, bakm, uma biju, siberi fiju ; 
  • in Nubia, segettemum ; 
  • in Persia, turuek, kherefeh ; 
  • in Sanscrit, lonika, loonia; 
  • in Tamil, caril-keeray, puropoo-keeray 





Quinoa. Chenopodium quinoa, Willd.
 This plant was grown as a cereal plant in the table-lands of New Grenada, Peru, and Chili, at the time of the discovery of America, and DeVega  notes that both the Indians and the Spaniards use the foliage as a spinach, as well as the grain. 

In Chili a variety is named by Molina, which yields a white grain, and this is the kind that is used as a vegetable in European gardens.

 A black-seeded variety, cultivated in gardens, is mentioned by Feuille in Peru, preceding 1725. It was introduced in 1785, but has not received very extended use. 







In 1853 seeds from France were distributed from the U. S. Patent Office. 

The white quinoa is called:

in France, anserine quinoa blanc y quinoa blanc ;
in Germany, peruariischer reis-spinat, reis-gewachs ;
in Peru, quinua by the Indians, mujo by the Spaniards ;
in Chili, the white sort, dahue ;
in Bolivia, quinua 













 Radish. Raphanus sativus L. 

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/
A giant radish, weighing more than seven and a half pounds! 1626

In European culture the radish is grown for its roots, but in other countries it is grown as well for its leaves and seed. Thus in Sikh, India, Edgeworth  says the radish is cultivated both as a vegetable made of the young buds, and for its oil. 

In Arabia Forskal  says the foliage and not the root is eaten. The Arabs are very fond of the tops of radishes, says Bayard Taylor, and eat them with as much relish as donkeys.
Bayard Taylor, issuer of the above snide comment, was a  an American poet, literary critic, translator, travel author, and diplomat. Wikipedia
BornJanuary 11, 1825, Kennett Square, PA
DiedDecember 19, 1878, Berlin, Germany
Klunzinger describes the radish of Upper Egypt as of a peculiar kind, of which as a rule the leaves only, and not the small sharp root, are eaten. 

 In 1726, in England, radishes were sown for cutting in the first leaf for small salads. The oil-bearing radish of China is grown extensively there for the seeds, from which an edible oil is expressed, and it has been introduced and successfully cultivated in Italy, whence it has reached France. 

This esculent root has been known from a remote antiquity, and has furnished a number of forms which have remained distinct from time immemorial. If the figures given by Woenig as of the radish in the XII. dynasty of Egypt be the radish, we may recognize the turnip-rooted and the long. 

A. P. Decandolle in 1821 divided the radishes into two divisions, the one including the common European sorts, the other the large black or white winter sorts. As a matter of convenience we will treat the various forms as species, giving the history of each. 

 I. Raphanus radicula Pers. 
Botanische wandplaten
This illustration has the feel of a children's book picture :-)

This is the round or turnip radish, the root swollen into a spherical form, or an oval tube rounding at the extremity to a filiform radicle. It has several shades of color, from white to red or purple. Its savor is usually milder than that of the other sorts. 

It seems to be the Boeotion of Theophrastus, who described this form as the least acid, and of a rotund figure, and with small leaves; the Syriacan of Columella and of Pliny. This sort does not appear to have received extensive distribution northward during the middle ages, as they find but little mention in the earlier botanies. 

In 1586 Lyte says they are not very common in Brabant ; but they are figured in two varieties by Gerarde. I am disposed to put here the Raphanus vulgaris of Tragus, 1552, which he describes as round, small, and common in Germany. 

Bontius in 1658 mentions them in Java, and in 1837 Bojer describes them as grown at the Mauritius. In 1842 Speede gives an India name, gol moolee, for the red and white kinds. 


  • Raphanus orbiculatus. Round radish. Ger., 1597, 184. 
  • Scarlet French Turnip. Vilm., 1885, 485.
  • Small Early White Turnip. Vilm., 1885, 487. 
  • Radicula sativa minor. Small garden radish. Ger., 1597, 183. 
  • White olive-shaped. Vilm., 1885, 490. 
  • Olive-shaped Scarlet. Vilm., 1885, 488. 
 Raphanus sativus Mill.  

The root of this class is long, nearly cylindrical, diminishing insensibly to a point at the extremity. It is now the common garden radish. It has a variety of colors from the white to the red, and is noteworthy from the transparency of the flesh. It may well be the radicida of Columella, and the Algidense of Pliny, which he describes as having a long and translucent root. 

It is not described in England by Lyte nor by Gerarde; it is described as in the gardens of Aleppo in 1573-5.   In 1658 Bontius calls them in Java Dutch radish; in 1837 Bojer names them in the Mauritius, and in 1842 Speede gives an Indian name, lumbee moolee

  •  Raphanus minor purpureus. Lob. Obs., 1576, 99; ic., 1591, I., 201. 
  •  Raphanus longus. Cam. Epit, 1586, 224. 
  •  Raphanus purpureus minor. Lobel., Lugd., 1587, 636. 
  •  Radiada sativa minor. Dod., 1616, 616. 
  •  Raphanus corynthia. Bodaeus, 1644, 769. 
  •  Long Scarlet. Vilm., 1885, 490. 
  •  Long White Vienna. Vilm., 1885, 492. 


 Raphanus albus longus. 

 The long white late and large radishes I do not recognize in the ancient writings, unless it be the reference by Pliny to the size; some radishes, he says, are the size of a boy infant, and Dalechamp says that such can be seen in his day in Thuringia and Erfordia. 

In Japan, so says Kizo Tamari, a Japanese commissioner to the New Orleans Exposition of 1886, the radishes are mostly cylindrical, fusiform or club-shaped, from one-fourth of an inch to over a foot in diameter, from six inches to over a yard in length, and J. Morrow says that at Lew Chew radishes often grow between two and three feet long, and more than twelve inches in circumference. (!!) 

In 1604 Acosta writes that he had seen in the Indies "redish rootes as bigge as a man's arme, very tender and of good taste." These radishes are probably mentioned by Albertus Magnus in the 13th century, who says that the radix are very large roots of a pyramidal figure, with a somewhat sharp savor, but not that of raphanus; they are planted in Gronovius' gardens. They seem to have been the principal kind in northern Europe a few centuries later, and are said by Lyte in 1586 to be the common radish of England. 

In 1790 Loureiro  describes them as cultivated in China and Cochin China, and they seem to be the form described by Kaempfer in Japan, in 1712. The radishes figured by the early botanists enable us to connect very closely with modern varieties. 

 (a.)
  •  Raphanus longus. Trag., 1552,732. 
  •  Raphanus. Matth., 1558, 241 ; 1570, 332. 
  •  Raphanus sive radix. Pin., 1561 , 145. 
  •  Raphanus magnus. Lob. Obs., 1576, 99; ic, 1591, I., 201. 
  •  Raphanus alba. Cam. Epit., 1586, 223. 
  •  Raphanus sativus Matthiol. Lugd., 1587, 635. 
  •  Raphanus sive radicula sativa. Dod., 16 16, 676. 
  •  White Strasbourg. Vilm., 1885, 494 
(b.)
  • Raphanus II.Matth., 1570, 332 ; 1598, 349.  
  • Raphanus secundus Matthiol. Lugd., 1587, 635. 
  • Laon long gray Winter. Vilm., 1885,496.  


(c.)
  •  Raphanus. Matth., 1558, 241; 1570, 332. 
  •  Raphanus sive radix. Pin., 1561, 145. 
  •  Raphanus sativus matthiolus. Lugd., 1587,635.   
  • Radice. Cast. Dur., 1617, 383. 
  • White Spanish Winter. Vilm., 1885, 497.
Matthioli; Bauhin








 (d.)
  • Raphanus sativus. Garden Radish. Ger., 1597, 183. 
  • Large White Russian. Vilm., 1885, 497. 























Raphanus niger vulgaris A. P. DC.

This radish does not seem to have been mentioned by the ancients. 
In 1586 Lyte says, 
"The radish with a black root has of late years been brought into England and now beginnith to be common."
  •  Raphanus nigra. Cam. epit, 1586, 223. 
  •  Raphanus sive radicula sativa nigra. Dod., 1616, 676. 
  •  Raffano longo. Cast. Dur., 161 7, ap. 
  •  Long-rooted Black Spanish. Bryant, 1783,40. 
  •  Long Black Spanish Winter. Vilm., 1885,496. 

 Raphanus niger rotundus A. P. DC. 

 This is a turnip-rooted or round form of a black radish, usually included among winter sorts. 
  •  Raphanus pyriformis. Ger., 1597, 184. 
  •  Raphanus L. Matth., 1598, 349. 
  •  Large Purple Winter. Vilm., 1885,495. 

 There is another form of black radish figured in the early botanies, of quite a distinct appearance. It answers suggestively to the description, by Vilmorin of the Radis de Mahon, a long red radish, exceedingly distinct, growing in part above ground, and peculiar to some districts in southern France and to the Balearic isles. 

I connect it with diffidence with the following :

  • Raphanus niger. Lob. ic, 1591, I., 202. 
  • Radice selvatica. Cast. Dur., 161 7, 384
  • Raphanus niger. Bod., 1644, jjo.
  • Radis de Mahon. Vilm., 1885, 499. 

 Theophrastus mentions the Corinthian sort as having full foliage, and the root, unlike other radishes, growing partly out of the earth, but the Long Normandy answers to this description as well as the Mahon. The radish was known to Turner in England in 1536 under the name of radyce. It was noted in Mexico in the sixteenth century by Peter Martyr, by Benzoni  in Hayti in 1565, and was under cultivation in Massachusetts about 1629. 

The radish is called 
  • in France, radis, petite rave, rave ;
  • in Germany, radies
  • in Flanders and Holland, radijs
  • in Denmark, haveroeddike
  • in Italy, ravanello, radice
  • in Spain, rabanito
  • in Portugal, rabao, rabanite ;
  • in Norway, reddik ;
  • in Greece, rapania
  • In Arabic, figl, fioyl, bokel
  • in Bengal, moola
  • in Burma, mung-la ;
  • in Ceylon, rabu ;
  • in Egypt, fidjel ;
  • in Hindustani, moola, muli
  • in India, moolee
  • in Japan, daikon ;  
  • in Malay, lobak; 
  • in Sanscrit, mooluka
  • in Tamil, moolinghie ; 
  • in Telinga, mullangi


This radish has pods often a foot or more in length, and these find use as a vegetable. It became known to Linnaeus in 1764;  it reached England from Java about 1816, and was described by Burr as an American kitchen plant in 1863. 

According to Firminger the plant has but lately come into cultivation in India, and there bears pods often three feet in length. These pods make excellent pickles.
 It was at first called in England tree radish from Java in India, rat-tailed radish, the name it now holds in the United States; by Burr, in 1863, Madras radish

 There are a number of radishes now known whose type requires further study before presentation.

Such are the Chinese winter radishes, whose roots are swollen more at the base than at the summit, the oil-bearing radish, etc. The first of these is in general cultivation in Japan. 

There was no guide to this illustration.  The references were within the text, which is in French. I think it is worth reading if you are into radishes as there are some charming comments which one does not see in many English radish articles! An example was left on No. 17 below...

Radish forcing pink round (No. 1)
round scarlet forcing white tip (No. 2)
Pink Round force to end white (No. 3)
the early scarlet round (No. 5)
Radish half long pink to white tip (No. 7)
half-long pink olive shaped (8)
white round (No. 9)
Radish round hasty violet (No. 10)
and white half-long (No. 11).
Radish round yellow extra-early (No. 12 of the board).
Radish round white little early (No. 13)
Pink Radishes round (No. 14)
Radish half long scarlet to white tip (No. 15)
Radish round pink to white tip (No. 16)
Radish half long purple to white tip (No. 17) is a very pretty and elegant two-tone Radish
Radish without forcing bright red sheet (No. 18)
radish rose early round (No. 19)
pink round white tip (No. 20)
half-long scarlet (No. 21)
Radish half along early scarlet (No. 22)
Radish early scarlet round (No. 24)
beef blood Radish round (No. 25)




Rampion. Campanula rapunctilus L.


The roots and leaves of Rampion are eaten in salads.
It is recorded as in gardens by Pena and Lobel in 1570, and is figured by Tragus in 1552, Lobel in 1576, as well as by other writers of this period as an improved root.

In 1726 Townsend says it is but in few gardens in England, and Bryant in 1783 says it is much cultivated in France, but in England is now little regarded.

It is recorded in American gardens in 1806, 1819, 1821, etc.
As late as 1877 an English writer says rampion is a desirable addition to winter salads. 

Rampion is called:

  • in France, raiponce, baton de Jacob, cheveux d'eveque, petite raiponce de careme,  pied-de-saitterelle, rampon, rave sauvage ;
     
  • in Germany, rapunzel ;
  • in Flanders and Holland, rapunsel ;
  • in Italy, raperonzolo, raponzolo ;
  • in Spain, reponche , raponchigo ; 
  • in Portugal, rapunculo



Red cabbage. Brassica oleracea (capitata) rubra L. 

 The first certain mention I find of this cabbage is in 1570, in Pena & Lobel's Adversaria,  and figures are given by Gerarde, 1597,  Matthiolus, 1598,  Dodonaeus, 1616, and J. Bauhin, 1651.
These figures are all of the spherical headed type. 

In 1636 Ray notices the variability in the colors upon which a number of our seedsmen's varieties are founded. The oblong or the pointed headed types which now occur, I cannot trace. The solidity of the head and the perfectness of the form in this class of cabbage indicate long culture and a remote origin. In England they have never attained much standing for general use,  and as in this country are principally grown for pickling. 

 The Red Cabbage is called 
  • in France, chou pommerouge
  • in Germany, rote kopfkohl ;
  • in Italy, cavalo rosso
  • in Dutch, rood kool ; 
  • in Spain, berza Coloradob; 
  • in India, lal kobee

The synonymy seems to be as follows:
 I. 
Brassica convoluta and arete occlusa rubro colore.    Adv., 1570, 91.
B. Lacuturria.    Lyte's Dod., 1586, 637. 
B. Capitata rubra.     Bauh. Phytopin., 1596, 176; Pin., 1623, III.; Ger. Herb., 1597, 246; J. Bauh., Hist., 1651, H.,831 ; Ray, Hist, 1686, 621. 
B. rubra capitata. Dod. Pempt, 16 16, 621. 
Chou pomme rouge. Tourn., Inst., 17 19, 219. 
Red cabbage, spherical headed forms
oops...forget where this was

II.
 Dark red early pointed headed. Vilm., Alb. de Cliches, 1885. 
 New Garfield Pickler. Tillinghast Cat., 1884. 
This is NOT New Garfield Pickler,
rather a Russian heirloom from eBay,
but the shape is the cone shaped type.

















Rhubarb. Rheum sp. 

 The rhubarb as a vegetable is in more repute in American and English gardens than in France, and is now widely distributed and much grown in American gardens. It is, however, of recent introduction; the first of its kind being only known about 1608, and the first reference I find to its growth as a vegetable in England being in 1778, although its culture probably dates somewhat earlier. It appeared in American gardens before 1806, but in 1821 Cobbett says he had never seen it in America. 
 Rheum rhaponticum


In 1822,  J. Lowell, in the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository, says that thirty years ago we were strangers to the rhubarb, which has now become an article of extensive culture. R. Manning, Secretary of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, says that in 1844 it was acquiring that popularity which now renders it indispensable.

In 1863 Burr describes ten varieties for American gardens. I am not sufficiently acquainted with this genus to refer our cultivated sorts to their proper species, but I cannot agree with Vilmorin in referring them all to one species, Rheum hybridum.




I present the species, in order of introduction, to which our cultivated rhubarbs have been referred by authors. 

  Rheum rhaponticum L.

 A native of Southern Siberia and the region of the Volga, it was introduced to Europe about 1608, and cultivated at Padua by Prosper Alpinus, and seeds from this source were planted by Parkinson in England about 1640 or before.

There is no reference, however, to its use as a vegetable by Alpinus  in 1627, nor by Ray in 1686, although the latter refers to the acid stalks being more grateful than that of garden sorrel. In 1778, however, Mawe says its young stalks in spring, being cut and peeled, are used for tarts.

 In 1806 M'Mahon mentions it in American gardens, and says the footstalks are very frequently used, and much esteemed for tarts and pies. In 1733 Bryant describes the footstalks as two feet long, and thicker than a man's finger at the base.
Nees von Esenbeck, T.F.L., Plantae officinales, 1828-1833 [A. Henry]






Rheum undulatum L. 

 To this species have been referred garden varieties with a red stalk. It is said to be a native of China, and introduced to Europe in 1734.

 It is mentioned in American seed catalogues of 1828.

Decaisne and Naudin  say it is grown in gardens, but is not as esteemed as is the Victoria rhubarb.

In 1840  Buck's and Elford rhubarb are referred to as originating from this species.

 In 1882, a variety called Tartreum  announced in France as new, and highly praised, is referred here.














Good, P.P. , The family flora and materia medica botanica - 1845







Rheum palmatum L. 

 Its habitat ascribed to China neighboring to Tartary, it first reached Europe in 1763 or 1758.

The footstalks are much smaller than those of other kinds, hence it is not in general cultivation.

It is yet rare in France, although this species is superior in quality, as it is quite tender.























Rheum compactum L. 

 A native of Tartary and China, it became first known in Europe in 1758.

In the Bon Jardinier of 1882 it is said to be the species principally grown in France as a vegetable, but Vilmorin  refers his varieties to Rheum hybridum,
but these, it is to be remarked, are English.






















Vick's 1895
 Rheum hybridum L.

This is the species to which our largest and finest varieties are usually referred.  It is of uncertain origin.

 It is first noticed in England in 1773 or 1774, but it did not come into use as a culinary plant until about 1827.  In 1829 a footstalk was noted as sixteen inches long. The Victoria rhubarb of our gardens is referred to this species.

 In 1877 a stalk was exhibited at Boston which weighed 2 lbs. 21 ozs., and in 1882, twelve stalks which weighed forty pounds.




Rheum ribes L. 

 This plant is considered by Linnaeus to be the Ribes arebum of Rauwolf, who traveled in the Orient in 1573-5, and who found it in the region of the Lebanon, and its habitat is also given as Eastern Persia.
 Decaisne and Naudin refer to it as grown in gardens in France, but not as esteemed as the R. hybridum, while the Bon Jardinier of 1882 says it is reported the best as an esculent, and is greatly praised.



 Rheum australe, Don.

This species, which is the R. emodi, Wal., is said by Loudon to have an excellent flavor, somewhat resembling that of apples, and excellent for a late crop, and the Bon Jardinier of 1882 says the petioles are longer and more esteemed than those of other species.

On the contrary Burr in 1863 says the leaf stalks, although attaining an immense size, are unfit for use on account of their purgative properties, but the plant is sometimes cultivated for its leaves, often a yard in diameter, which are useful for covering baskets containing vegetables or fruit.

The wild rhubarb about Cabul is blanched for use as a vegetable, and under the name of rezvash is brought to the market.

Gravel is piled about the sprout as it breaks from the earth, and by continuing the process the plant is forced to grow to the height of 18 or 20 inches.

Another process is to cover the sprout with an earthen jar, and the sprout then curls itself spirally within the jar, and becomes quite white, crisp and free from fibre. It is eaten in its raw state with either salt or sugar, and makes a favorite preserve


Rhubarb is called 

  • in France, hubarbe ;
  • in Germany, rhabarber ;
  • in Flanders and Holland, rabarber ;
  • in Denmark, rhabarber ;
  • in Italy, rabarbaro, robarbaro ;
  • in Spain and Portugal, ruibarbo 

Rocambole. Allium sorodoprasum L. (should be Allium scorodoprasum)

 The culture of Rocambole is limited in this country, but in southern Europe the Genoese bring vast quantities to Provence under the name of ail rouge. It is not of ancient culture, as it cannot be recognized in the plants of the ancient Greek and Roman authors, and finds no mention of garden cultivation by the early botanists. 

It is the Scorodoprasum II. of Clusius, 1601,
the Allii genus, ophioscorodon dictum quibusdam, of J. Bauhin, 1651,   but no indications of culture in either case. 

Ray, in 1688, does not refer to its cultivation in England. In 1726 however, Townsend says it is "mightily in request"; in 1783 Bryant classes it with edibles.
In France, however, it was grown by Quintyne in 1690. 

It is enumerated for American gardens in 1806.  No varieties are mentioned. 

 Rocambole is called 
in France, ait rocambole, ail rouge, ail dEspane y eschalote d'Espagne, rocambole
in Germany, roccambol
in Denmark rokambol
in Italy aglio d'Indi
In Portugal, alho de Hespana  

In 1698 in England it was called Spanish-Garlick and in 1826 rockambole.



This illustration is by the great Redouté...I should look for large scans online for his work.

Redouté, P.J., Les Liliacées, vol. 7: t. 379 (1805-1816) [P.J. Redouté]

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Turn of the 20th Century Photo - Proud Woman with Potted Plants

Have I shared this with you?  I just found it in my files. After spending time imagining being there,  (and enjoying the visit)  I noticed the screen door! 



Are there a second set of stairs, or are the ferns arranged for the photo?
I have no idea where this photo is from...a 2014 screenshot, from ebay I assume.

Monday, July 25, 2016

1890 - Nasturtium to Parsnip - Part 14 of Sturtevant's HISTORY OF GARDEN VEGETABLES




(Continued from p. 677, Vol. XXIII., 1889.)
Remember, to see the footnotes to find the books he used, go to the link above.  When I insert my two cents I try to remember to do it in red type.

Nasturtium. Tropæolum sp. 

IT is rather as ornamental flower-garden plants that the nasturtiums are now so universally grown. Yet they are also classed among kitchen-garden esculents, the flower-buds and the seeds serving, when pickled, as a caper substitute, and the flowers used for garnishing. 

 In 1683 Worlidge, in England, says, "from a Flower are now become an acceptable Sallad, as well as the blossom."  In 1690 Quintyne grew them in the royal kitchen gardens of France. 

Both species were received in Europe in the 16th century, as will be seen from the appended synonymies. Both are found wild in Peru. 

 Tropaeolum minus L.

 This species seems to have been first known in Europe about 1574, described by Monardes ;  it is figured by Lobel  in 1576, and is generally spoken of about this period as a new and rare plant. 

It was in the vegetable-garden in England, in 1726,  probably before, and is mentioned in American gardens in 1806. 

The synonymy appears as below : 
  • Nasturtii Indici genuina effigies. Lob. Obs., 1576, 338, cum ic. 
  • Nasturtium peregrinum, myconii. Lugd., 1587, 656, cum ic. 
  • Flos sanguineus, Lugd., 1587, 19 18. 
  • Nasturtium Indicum. Lob. ic, 1591, 6i6; Dod., 1616, 397, cum ic. 
  • Mastuorzo. Cast. Dur., 16 17, 277, cum ic.  
  • Pelon mexixquiletl, seu nasturtio Peruino. Hern., 165 1, 161, cum ic. 
  • Cardamindum minus et vulgare. Feuille, Peru, 1725,111., t. 8. 








Tropaeolum majus L. 

"The seeds of this rare and faire plant came first from the Indies into Spaine and those hot regions, and from thence into France and Flanders, from whence I have received seeds that hath borne with me both flowers and seede," says Gerarde in 1597.  

We cannot agree with those authors who consider this the dwarf form, as the figure given comes nearer to the Tall, as it was figured by J. Bauhin,  in his works printed in 1651, with the name scandens, thirty-three years before its asserted introduction by Linnaeus. 

Ray,  in 1686, speaks of its use as a vegetable, and this use is also spoken of by Townsend  in 1726. In American gardens it was noticed by McMahon  in 1806, and by all the early garden writers, as being the predominant kind in culture. 

The synonymy I offer is shorter than the preceding : 
  • Nasturtium Indicum. Cam. ic, 1588, t. 31. 
  • Nasturtium Indicum. Indian cresses. Ger., 1597, 196. 
  • Nasturtium indicum folio peltato scandens. J. Bauh., 165 1, II., 75. 
  • Cardamindum ampliore folio and majore flore. Feuille, Peru, 1725, III., t. 8. 

The nasturtium or Indian cress,  or capucin capers with the epithet Tall or Dwarf, is called: 
  • in France, capucine, cresson du Mexique, fleur de sang, fleur sanguine, cresson de Peru, cresson d'Inde;
  • in Germany, kapuciner kresse, Indianische kresse;
  • in Flanders and Holland, capucine kers;
  • in Italy, nasturzio, astuzzia;
  • in Spain, capuchina;
  • in Portugal, chagas;
  • in Norway, blomkarse;
  • in Arabic, tortour el-bachah 




 Tropaeolum tuberosus R. et P. 

 In Bolivia this plant is extensively cultivated in the high mountain districts, for its tubers, which are considered a delicacy, and are highly esteemed.

It does not seem to have entered European or American culture, although it is retained by Vilmorin among garden esculents.  

It was described in 1794, and was carried to France in 1836, but its tubers were not found palatable to European taste.   

(In a quick look around the web, it seems you really need to know how to prepare this tuber for eating.  I wonder if this was communicated well.  People tend to want to treat every tuber as a potato.)
The tubers are of good size, and are marked with purple upon a yellowish ground. 
 The tuberous-rooted nasturtium is called 
  • in France, capucine tubereuse ;
  • in Germany, Peruanische knollenkresse ;
  •  in Flanders, knoll-kapucien ;
  • in Spain, capuchina tuberculosa ;
  • in Peru, mayna massua;
  • in Bolivia, isano,  ysano ;
  •  in Mexico, ysano, or taiacha 






Good grief!  Here is a very interesting place that sells many of the strange (to me, anyway) vegetables mentioned in the Sturtevant series!!!  Go to Cultivariable.


New Zealand Spinage. Tetragonia expansa, Ait. 

 This plant was first found by Sir Joseph Banks, (I love Sir Joseph...besides his real accomplishments, my reading of the Aubrey/Maturin novels has created a very real and living Banks in my mind. I would advise you to first listen to the recorded books narrated by the astoundingly talented late great actor Patrick Tull. I never saw the movie for obvious reasons.)  and in 1770, at Queen Charlotte's Sound, New Zealand, and its merits discovered to the sailors of Captain Cook's expedition round the world. 
 (Below is an illustration made on that voyage.)
The Endeavour botanical illustrations
It reached Kew gardens in 1772.  It also occurs in Australia, both on the coast and in the desert interior, in New Caledonia, China, Japan, and Chili.  

Don says three varieties are found in Chili, one with smooth leaves, one with leaves hoary beneath, 
and a third small and glabrous.

 It was cultivated as a spinage plant in England in 1821 or earlier.  It was in use in France in 1824 or earlier.  In the United States its seed was distributed among members of the New York Horticultural Society in 1827, and in 1828 it appeared in our seed catalogues. 

St. Hilaire  records its use as a spinage in South Brazil, and Bojer  in the Mauritius. 

 The New Zealand spinage is called 
  • in France, tetragone, cornue, tetragone etalee, epinard de la nouvelle-zelande
     
  • in Germany, neuseelandischer spinat;
  • in Flanders, vierhouk, vierkant-vrugt;
  • in Denmark, myseelandsk spinat;
  • in Italy, tetragona;
  • in the Mauritius, tetragone;
  • in Japan, tsuri na, i.e., creeping cabbage.
Great Link!: The Endeavour botanical illustrations   "The voyage of HMS Endeavour (1768-1771) was the first devoted exclusively to scientific discovery. This site presents most of the botanical drawings and engravings prepared by artist Sydney Parkinson before his untimely death at sea, and by other artists back in England working from Parkinson's initial sketches. "








Nightshade. Solanum nigrum L. 

 This plant, says Vilmorin, is not as yet used in France as a vegetable, but in
warm countries the leaves are sometimes eaten as spinage.

It is mentioned by Galen  among aliments in the second century, but was not cultivated in Germany in Fuchsius' time, 1542, although it retained its name, Solatium hortense, perhaps from its former cultivation. 

It is a plant of a wide distribution, occurring in the northern hemisphere from Sweden, and the north-east of America from Hudson Bay, even to the equatorial regions, as for example at Timor, the Galapagos, the Antilles, Abyssinia, the Mascarene Isles, Mauritius, Van Diemen's Land, Chili, etc.

 It is found as a pot herb in the markets of Mauritus,  and is used as a spinage in Central Africa.

In China the young shoots are eaten, as also its black berries,  and in the Mississippi Valley the little black berries are made into pies and other pastry.   


The Nightshade or black nightshade is called 
  • in France, morelle noire, M. de Vile de France, M. commune, brede, creve-chien, herbe aux
    magiciens, morette, raisin de loup ;
  • in Germany, verbesseter nachschatten spinat ;
  • in Italy, erba mora;
  • in Spain, yerba mora 
If, like me, the fact this is edible surprises you, check out this modern reference.

 Okra. Hibiscus esculentus L. 

 The Spanish Moors appear to have been well acquainted with this plant, which was known to them by the name of bamiyah.    Abul-Abbas el-Nebati, a native of Seville, learned in plants, who visited Egypt A. D. 1216, describes in unmistakable terms the form of the plant, its seeds and fruit, which last, he remarks, is eaten when young and tender with meal by the Egyptians.

Moninckx atlas, -1682-1709
 The references to this plant in the earlier botanies are not numerous, and the synonymies offered are often incorrect.

I think the following, however, are justified:


  • Trionum theophrasti. Rauwolf, in Ap. to Lugd., 1587, 31, cum ic.
  • Alcea cegyptia. Clusius, Hist., 1601, 2, 27, cum ic.
  • Honorius bellus. In Clus., I.e., 2, 311.
  • Bamia alessandrina. Cast. Dur., 16 17, Ap., cum ic.
  • Quingombo. Marcg. Bras., 1 648, 3 1 , cum ic. ;
  • Piso., Bras., 1658, 211, cum ic.
  • Malva rosea sive hortensis. J. Bauhin, 1651, II., 951.
  • Ketmia americana annua flore albo,fructu non sulcato longissimo. Comelyn, Hort. Med., Amstelod, 1701, 150, cum ic.
Moninckx atlas, -1682-1709
Of these the last only, that of Comelyn, represents the type of pod of the varieties usually to be found in our gardens, but plants are occasionally to be found bearing pods which resemble those figured in the above list.

 I find little recorded, however, concerning variety, as in the regions where its culture is particularly affected there is a paucity of writers. Miller's Dictionary, 1807, mentions that there are different forms of pods in different varieties ; in some not thicker than a man's finger, and five or six inches long; in others very thick, and not more than two or three inches long; in some erect; in others rather inclined. Lunan,  in Jamaica, in 1814, speaks of the pods being of different size and form in the varieties. In 1831 Don  describes a species, the H. bammia, Link., with very long pods.

 In 1863 Burr  describes four varieties in American gardens, two dwarfs, one pendant-podded, and one tall and white-podded. In 1885, at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, varieties were grown under eleven different names, and from these we were able to satisfy ourselves of three distinct sorts only. Moninckx atlas, -1682-1709

Vilmorin
Vilmorin  in 1885 names but two sorts, the long-fruited and the round-fruited. Its culture is now recorded in nearly all the tropical countries, and it reached Brazil before 1648, as recorded by Marcgravius. It is recorded in gardens about Philadelphia in 1748,  in Virginia in 1781,  and in general garden culture in 1806. 








Okra, ocra, or gombo, in India ochro and gobbo is called:
  • in France gombo, gombaud, ketmie comestible, calalon, quiabo, quingombo, okra;
  • in Italy, ibisco ;
  • in Spain, gombo ;
  • in Greece, vamies
  • in Brazil, quingombo, quiabo ;
  • in the Mauritius, lalo ;
  • in Curacpa, gigambo.
  • In Arabic, bamyeh toneyly, i.e., bamia with long fruit, bamia, bamia schami, bamia stambouli, rumi;
  • in Angola, quillobo ,
  • in Bengali, ramturay, dhenroos ;
  • in Burma, yung-ma-dae ;
  • in Central Africa, bameea ;
  • in Congo, quingombo or quigombo ;
  • in Egypt, bamia, chama ,
  • in Hindustani, ram-turai, bhinde ,
     
  • in India, dhenroos, ramturee, bhindee
  • in Malabar, vendah ;
  • in Nubia, djyoundou ;
  • in Persia, bamiyah;
  • in Tamil, venda, venday ;
  • in Telegu, benda. 
above: Wikipedia
Sample of thumbnails from image search for quingombo. 
Below is the section from the Vilmorin book Sturtevant is always mentioning.

The vegetable garden; illustrations, descriptions, and culture of the garden vegetables of cold and temperate climates, by MM. Vilmorin-Andrieux, of Paris. 

 Olluco. Ullucus tuberosus Lozano.
 Cultivariable sells this, too! I do not have any connection to them, I just think it is a very cool niche business.   
Also, great photos of olluco here in a Flickr account.
 Although Vilmorin says the culture of this plant has not given good results in France, yet he includes it in his book on vegetables. It was brought into French culture in 1848 by the Minister of Agriculture.  It is cultivated in the Andes of Peru, Bolivia and New Granada, Chili and Mexico. 

 The tubers are yellow, very smooth, starchy, and are developed on runners proceeding from the base of the stem.  Lieut. Herndon,  who ate them in Peru, pronounced them more glutinous than the oca and not so pleasant to the taste.
Curtis Magazine

 The olluco is called at Quito ulluco or melloco;
  • in Peru, ulluca ;
  • in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, oca quina ;
  • in Chili, melloes and ulloco ;
  • in Mexico, papa lissa.
Acosta,  in speaking of the food plants of Colao, Peru, where the climate is cold and dry, says,
"The Indians use an other  kinde of roote, which they call Papas ; these rootes are like to grownd nuttes, they are small rootes, which cast out many leaves. They gather this Papas, and dry it well in the Sunne, then beating it they make that which they call Chuno, which keepes many daies, and serves for bread. In this realme there is great trafficke of Chuno, the which they carry to the mines of Potozi ; they likewise eat of these Papas boyled or roasted. There is one sweete of these kindes, which grows in hot places, whereof they do make certaine sawces and minced meats, which they call Locro." 
 As the olluco is said by Heuze to be only eaten raw, outside of Mexico, we may believe that Acosta refers in this extract to this plant, the potato and the sweet potato.

Onion. Allium cepa L.
1886 - Vick's Floral Guide
Onion. Allium cepa L.

 The culture of the onion was known at a remote period, and in the ancient Egyptian paintings a priest
is frequently seen holding them in his hand, or covering an altar with a bundle of thin leaves and roots.  Hippocrates  mentions that they are commonly eaten 430 B.C. Theophrastus,  322 B.C., names a number of varieties, the Sardian (from western Turkey), the Cnidian (from southern Turkey), Thamocracian, and the Setanicon, all named from the places of growth. Those of Issus and Sardis are white. Dioscorides, 60 A.D., speaks of the onion as long or round; yellow or white. Columella, 65 42 A.D., speaks of the Marsicam, which the country people call unioiwm, and this word seems to be the origin of our word onion, the French ognon. Pliny, 66 A.D. 79, devotes considerable space to the cepa, and says the round onion is the best, and that the red are more highly flavored than the white. Palladius,  210 A.D., gives minute directions for culture. Apicius,  A.D. 230, gives a number of recipes for the use of the onion in cookery, but its uses by this epicurean writer are rather as a seasoner than as an edible. In the thirteenth century Albertus Magnus  describes the onion, but does not include it in his list of garden plants where he speaks of the leek and garlic, by which we would infer, what indeed seems to have been the case with the ancients, that it was in less esteem than these now minor vegetables.

In the sixteenth century Amatus Lusitanus  says the onion is one of the commonest of vegetables, and occurs in red and white varieties, and of various qualities, some sweet, others strong, and yet others intermediate in savor.
In 1570, Matthiolus  refers to varieties as large and small, long, round and flat, red, bluish, green and white.

 Laurembergius,  in 1632, says onions differ in form, some being round, others oblong ; in color, some white, others dark red ; in size, some being large, others small ; from their origin, as German, Danish, Spanish, etc. He says the Roman colonies during the reign of Agrippa grew in the gardens of the monasteries a Russian sort, which attained sometimes the weight of eight pounds. He calls the Spanish onion oblong, white and large, excelling all other sorts in sweetness and size, and grown in large abundance in Holland.

At Rome the sort which brings the highest price in the markets is the Caieta ; at Amsterdam the St. Omer. At the present time Vilmorin  describes sixty varieties, and there are a number of varieties grown which are not noted by him in France.

In form these may be described as fiat, flattened, disc-form, spherical, spherical-flattened, pear-shaped, long. This last form seems to attain an exaggerated length in Japan, where I have been told that they often equal a foot in length. In 1886, Kizo Tamari,  a Japanese commissioner to this country, says, "Our onions have not large globular bulbs. They are grown just like celery in this country, and have long, white, slender stalks."

In addition to the forms mentioned above we rank the top onion and the potato onion among our varieties. The onion is described in many colors, such as white, dull white, silvery white, pearly white, yellowish green, coppery yellow, salmon yellow, greenish yellow, bright yellow, pale salmon, salmon pink, coppery pink, chamois, red, bright red, blood red, dark red, purplish. But few of our modern forms are noticed in the early botanies.

 The following synonymy includes all I have noted, but in establishing it it must be noted that many of the figures upon which it is founded are quite indistinct.

 I. Bulb flat at bottom ; tapering towards stem.

  •  Cepa. Fuchsius, 1542, 430.
  •  Cepa rotunda. Bodseus, 1644, 787.
  •  Caepe sive Cepa rubra et alba. J. Bauhin, 165 1, II., 549.
  •  Geant de Rocca. Vilm., 1883, 387.
  •  Mammoth Pompeii. American Seedsmen.
  •  Golden Queen. American Seedsmen.
  •  Paris Silverskin. American Seedsmen.
  •  Silver White Etna. American Seedsmen.
Geant de Rocca - 1889 - The Garden







The difference at first sight between the crude figure of Fuchsius and the modern varieties is great, but ordinary experience indicates that the changes are no greater than can be observed under selection.










 II.

Bulb round at bottom ; tapering towards stem.

  • Zwiblen. Roszlin, 1550, 121.
  • Cepa. Tragus, 1552, 737.
  • Caepa. Cam. Epit, 1586, 324.
  • Blanc hatif de Valence. ViL, 1883', 378.
  • Neapolitan Marzajola. American Seedsmen.
  • Round White Silverskin. American Seedsmen.
  • White Portugal. American Seedsmen.



 III.
Bulb roundish, flattened above and below.

  • Cepa. Matth., 1558, 276; Pin., 1 561, 215.
  • Caepa capitata. Matth., 1570, 388.
  • Cepe. Lob. Obs., 1576, 73; ic, 1591, I., 150.
  • Cepa rubra. Ger., 1597, 134.
  • Cepa rotunda. Dod., 1616, 687.
  • Rouge gros-plat d'Italie. Vilm., 1883, 387.
  • Bermuda. American Seedsmen.
  • Large Flat Madeira. American Seedsmen.
  • Wethersfield Large Red. American Seedsmen.


 IV.
Bulb rounded below, flattened above.

  • De cepis. Pictorius, 1581, 82.
  • Philadelphia Yellow Dutch or Strasburg. American Seedsmen.


 V.
Bulb spherical, or nearly so.

  • Cepa. Tragus, 1552, 737. Lauremb., 1632, 26.
  • Cepe. Lob. Obs., 1576, 73; ic, 1591, I., 150.
  • Cepe alba. Ger., 1597, 134.
  • Caepa capitata. Matth., 1598,419.
  • Jaune de Danvers. Vilm., 1883, 380.
  • Danvers. American Seedsmen.


 VI.
Bulb dishing on the bottom.
  • Cepa rotunda. Bodaeus, 1644, 786.
  • Extra Early Red. American Seedsmen.
 VII.
Bulb oblong.
  • Caepa. Cam. Epit, 1586, 324.
  • Cepea Hispanica oblonga. Lob. ic, 1591, I., 150.
  • Cepa oblonga. Dod., 1616, 687; Bodaeus, 1644, 787.
  • Piriform. Vilm., 1883, 388.
 VIII.
The top onion.

In 1557 Dalechamp  records with great surprise an onion plant which bore in the place of seed, small bulbs. The onion was named by Chaucer, in England, about 1340. In Mexico onyons are mentioned by Peter Martyr  before 1557, in Peru before 1604,  in New England about 1629,  in Virginia in 1648, and were among the Indian foods destroyed by General Sullivan  in western New York in 1779.

In 1806 McMahon  records eight varieties in American gardens.

The onion is called:
  • in France, ognon, oignon ;
  • in Germany, Zwibel ;
  • in Flanders, ajuin ;
  • in Holland, uijen ;
  • in Denmark, rodlog;
  • in Italy, cipolla ;
  • in Spain, cebolla ;
  • in Portugal, cebola ;
  • in the Mauritius, oignon;
  • in Norway, rodlog;
  • in Greek, krommuon ;
  • in Latin, cepa.
  • In Arabic, bussull , basal;
  • in Bengali, pulantoo, peeaj ;
  • in Ceylon, loono ;
  • in China, tsum xi ;
  • in Cochin China, cay hanh ;
  • in Hindustani, pee-aj;
  • n India, peeaj;
  • in Japan, soo, fitmosi;
  •  in Java, brangbang;
  • in Malay, bawangmera
  • in Persia, peeaj ;
  • in Sanscrit, palandu, latarka,  sukandaka ;
  • in Tamil, venggayum ;
  • in Telegu, wolliguidda.


Orach. Atriplex hortensis L.

This spinach plant is grown as a vegetable, and also to use as a salad, mixed with sorrel in order to correct the acidity. It was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and it seems to have been used more in the early times before the introduction of the spinach than now.

Two varieties are known; the red and the green, each with a sub-variety of a paler color.

Spach, E., Histoire naturelle des végétaux,
(1834-1847) [J. Decaisne]
It was known to Turner  in England in 1538, who calls it areche, or redoreche.
In 1686 Ray  mentions the white and the red, even as mentioned by Gerarde  in 1597.
In 1623 Bauhin  mentions the red, the white, and the dark green.
In 1806, three kinds are named by McMahon  as in American gardens.

 Orach, orache, French spinach, or Mountain spinach is called
  • in France, arroche, armol, arrode, arrouse, belle dame, bonne dame, eripe, erode, follette, iribe, irible, prudefemme
  • in Germany, gartenmelde ;
  • in Flanders and Holland, melde,
    hofmelde
    ;
  •  in Italy, atreplice ;
  • in Spain, armuelle ;
  • in Portugal, armolas ;
  • in Norwegian, havemelde ,
  • in Greece, vlita, spanakia
  • in Greek, atraphaxis ;
  • in Latin, atriplex ;
  • in Egyptian, ohet ;
  • in India, buthooa. 



Oxalis. Oxalis sp.

 There are two species which have been introduced into European gardens, but as an aliment they are there of little importance ; they are yet included by Vilmorin  among kitchen esculents. The roots are the parts principally used, yet the acid leaves find use as a salad.

 Oxalis crenata Jacq.
 This species is cultivated in Peru in gardens about Lima, and quite extensively in the mountains,from Chili even to Mexico.  It was introduced into England in 1829,  and was for a time cultivated as a culinary plant.
It seems now to have fallen into disuse. Burr  included it among American garden esculents in 1863.

A red and a yellow variety are mentioned.

 The oxalis is called
  • in France, oxalis crenelee, oxalide, surelle tubereuse ;
  • in Flanders, zverklaver;
  • in Peru, oca





Transactions of the royal horticultural society of London, (1848)

Oxalis deppei Lodd.

 This species is said to be a native of Brazil, whence it was introduced into the kitchen-gardens of
Europe,  reaching England in 1827.

In 1860 Loudon  says about 1850 it began to replace in esteem the 0. crenata.

The young leaves are served like sorrel, put into soup, or used as greens ; the flowers are excellent in salad, alone or mixed with corn salad ; the roots are served boiled.

It was likewise recorded by Burr  for American gardens in 1863.
The botanical cabinet
[C. Loddiges],(1828)




Para cress. Spilanthes sp. 

 Under the name of Para cress several species of Spilanthes are occasionally cultivated, the piquant leaves being mixed with other salads, and having the property of stimulating the salivary glands ; they should hence be classed with medical salads.

 Spilanthes oleracea L. 
 Recorded as cultivated in France in 1860 and in 1824, and in the Mauritius  in 1837, and is used also as a salad in the Mascarenhas, the East Indies and South America.
Spilanthes oleracea

It is called:
  • in France cresson de Para, spilanthe, spilanthe des potageres, lu abecedaire;
  • in Germany, hussarenknopf ;
  • in Flanders, ABC kruid ;
  • in Japan, hoko so 
Spilanthes fusca H. P. 

This species also cultivated,  and seems to be the cresson du Bresil of Vilmorin.
Below is a nice French seed business site...Potager ornemental de Catherine

Parsley,  Apium petroselinum L.


Wow!!  I was looking for an illustration to start Parsley and this scan of the paste down inside a promising book appeared!   In the past I have been pleased to find books owned by other botanists, like Liberty Hyde Bailey's books show up often, sometimes signed, often with a bookplate.  

It would be an interesting online hunt to find botanist's bookplates and signatures in books.  I wonder what the oldest one online is?  I suppose finding out what university they were associated with might cut down on the time needed to track them down.


Had to show this...
 "Although largely unknown today, Elizabeth Blackwell made a significant contribution to medical knowledge and to the art of botanical illustration. Her multi-volume work, 'A curious herbal', published in the 1730s, was an invaluable resource for doctors and apothecaries in the 18th century and beyond.
'A curious herbal' is one of the earliest botanical books to have been compiled by a woman."
from the National Library of Scotland 
Blackwell, E., Herbarium Blackwellianum, vol. 5: t. 443 (1765)

Parsley,  Apium petroselinum L.

This biennial is found wild in southern Europe, from Spain to Macedonia, also in Algiers and in the Lebanon.  It seems to be the apium of the ancient Romans, the selinon of Theophrastus, who, 322 B. C., describes two varieties, one with crowded, dense leaves, the other with more open and broader leafage.

Columella 120 A.D.  speaks of the broad-leaved and curled sorts, and gives directions for the culture of each, and, A.D. 79 , Pliny mentions the cultivated form as having varieties with a thick leaf, a crisp leaf, etc., evidently copying from Theophrastus. He adds, however, from apparently his own observation, that the apium is in general esteem, for the sprays find use in large quantities in broths,  and give a peculiar palatability to condimental foods. In Achaea it is used, so he says, for the victor's crown in the Nemean games.

 A little later Galen, 122 A. D. , praises the parsley as among the commonest of foods, sweet and grateful to the stomach, and that some eat it and Smyrnium mixed with the leaves of lettuce.

 Palladius,  about 210 A. D., mentions the method of procuring the curled form from the common, and says that old seed germinate more freely than do fresh seed (a peculiarity of parsley seed at present, and which is directly the opposite to that of celery seed).

 Apicius, A. D. 230, a writer on cookery, makes use of the apium viride, and of the seed. In the 13th century Albertus Magnus speaks of apium and petroselinum as being kitchen-garden plants ; he speaks of each as being an herb the first year, a vegetable the second year of growth ; he says the apium has broader and larger leaves than the petroselinum, the petroselinum has leaves like the cicuta; that the petroselinum is more of a medicine than a food.

 At the present time we have for forms the common or plain-leaved, the celery-leaved or Neapolitan, the curled, the fern-leaved, and the Hamburg or turnip-rooted.



 I.
 The plain-leaved form is not now much grown, having become superseded by the more ornamental curled forms. In 1552, Tragus  says there is no kitchen-garden in Germany without it, and it is used by the rich as well as the poor, and Matthiolus, in 1558 and 1570, says it is one of the most common plants of the garden.

In 1778 Mawe  says it is the sort most commonly grown in English gardens, but many prefer the curled kinds, and in 1834 Don says it is seldom cultivated.

It was in American gardens in 1806.
  •  Petroselinum. Trag., 1552, 459.
  • Apium hortense. Matth., 1558, 362; 1570, 512; 1598, 562; Pin., 1561, 333; Lugd., 1537,700; Lob. ic, 1591,706; Ger., 1597, 861 ; Dod., 161 6, 694. 
  •  Garden parsley. Lyte's Dod., 1586, 696. 
  •  Common parsley. Ray, 1686, 448; McMahon, 1806, 127. 
  •  Plane parsley. Mawe, 1778. 
  •  Common plain leaved. Don, 1834, III., 279. 
  •  Plain parsley. Burr, 1863,433. 
  •  Persil commun. Vilm., 1883,403. 

 II.
The celery-leaved or Neapolitan is scarcely known outside of Naples. It differs from the common parsley in the large size of its leaves and leaf stalks, and it may be blanched as a celery.  It was introduced into France by Vilmorin in 1823.  Pliny mentions parsleys with thick stalks, and says the stalks of some are white. It may be the Apium hortense maximum of Bauhin  in 1596, as the description applies well. He says it is now grown in gardens, and was first called English Apium. He does not mention it in his Pinax, 1623, under the same name, but under that of  latifolium. Linnaeus  considers this to be the Ligusticum austriacum Jacq.

 It is figured by Bauhin in his Prodromus. I have never seen it.

  • Persil celeri ou de Naples. L'Hort. Fran., 1824. . 
  • Naples or Celery-leaved. Burr, 1863,434.
  • Persil grand de Naples. Vilm., 1883,404. 
All these snippets from - Plantarum historiae universalis Oxoniensis seu herbarum distributio nova, per tabulas cognationis et affinitatis ex libro Naturae observata et detecata, Volume 3 - Theatrum Sheldonianum, 1699
 III.
The curled parsleys. Of these we have many varieties, differing but in degree, such as the curled, extra curled, moss curled, and triple curled.   Pena & Lobel, in 1570, mention this form, and say it is very elegant and rare, brought from the mountains the past year and grown in gardens, the leaves curled on the borders, very graceful and tremulous, with minute incisions.

In the synonymy many of the figures do not exhibit the curled aspect which the name and description indicates ; we hence make two divisions, the curled and the very curled. The curled was in American gardens preceding 1806.

(a.) The curled.
  •  Apium crispum sive multifidum. Ger., 1597, 861, cum ic. 
  •  Apium crispum. Matth. Op., 1598, 562, cum ic. 

 (b.) Very curled.
  •  Apium crispatum. Adv., 1570, 315: Lugd., 1587, 700. 
  •  Apium. Cam. Epit, 1586, 526. 
  •  Petroselinum vulgo, crispum. J. Bauh., 165 1, III.,Pt. 2, 97. Curled. Townsend, 1726,; Mawe, 1778; McMahon, 1806, 127; Thorb. Kal., 1821.
  •  Apium crispum. Mill. Diet, 1731, ex Mill. Diet, 1807. 
  •  Apium petroselinum. Bryant, 1783, 24. 
  •  Curled or Double. Fessenden, 1828,222; Bridgeman, 1832. 
  •  Persil frise. L'Hort. Fran., 1824; Vilm., 1883,404. 
  •  Dwarf curled. Fessenden, 1828, 222; Burr, 1863, 432. 
  •  Curled leaved. Don, 1834, III., 279. 

 IV.
The fern-leaved has leaves which are not curled, but are divided into a very great number of small thread-like segments, and is of a very dark green.   I first note it in American seed catalogues of 1878. It seems, however, to be described by Bauhin in his edition of Matthiolus, 1598, as a kind with leaves of the coriander, but very many extending from one branch, laciniate, and the stem leaves unlike the coriander because long and narrow.

V.

The Hamburg parsley is grown for its roots, which are used as parsnips are. It seems to have been used in Germany in 1542 or earlier, but its use was indicated as of Holland origin even then in the name used, Dutch parsley.   It did not reach England until long after.

In 1726 Townsend,  a seedsman, had heard that "the people in Holland boil the roots of it, and eat it as a good dish," and Miller is said to have introduced it in 1727, and to have grown it himself for some years before it became appreciated.

In 1778  it is said to be called Hamburg parsley, and to be in esteem.  In 1783 Bryant mentions its frequent occurrence in the London markets.

It was in American gardens in 1806.
  • Oreoselinum. Germanis Deutsch petersilg. Fuch. 1542,573.
  • Petroselinum. Tragus, 1552, 459. 
  • Apium. Cam. Epit, 1586, 526. 
  • Apium hortense Fuchsii. J. Bauhin, 165 1, III., Pt. 2, 97. 
  • Apium latifolium. Mill. Diet, 1737. 
  • Dutch parsley . Gard. Kal., 1765, 127. 
  • Hamburg parsley. Mawe, 1778. 
  • Broad-leaved. Mawe, 1778. 
  • Hamburg or large rooted. McMahon, 1806; Burr, 1863,433. 
  • Large rooted. Thorb. Kal., 1821. 
  • Persil tubereux. L'Hort. Fran., 1824. 
  • Persil a grosse racine. Vilm., 1883,405.







 VI.
A Persil panache is mentioned by Pirolle, in L'Hort. Francais, 1824, but I find no further account.

The Parsley is called:
  • in France persil;
  • in Germany petersilie ;
  • in Flanders and Holland peterselie ;
  • in Holland pieterselie ;
  • in Denmark petersilje;
  • in Italy prezzemolo, petroncino, erbetta;
  • in Spain perejil;
  • in Portugal selsa;
  • in Norway persille ;
  • in Russia petruschka
  • In Arabic maquedounis, bagedounis, kussah;
  • in China, hu-sui;
  • in Egypt, bagdunis ;
  • in India, vjmood, vjooaen khorasanee ;
  • in Japan, kin, seri;
  • in Persia, karefo.


 Parsnip. Pastinaca sativa L. 

 It has been supposed that the pastinaca of the Romans included the carrot and the parsnip, and that the elaphoboscon of Pliny was the parsnip. Pliny describes the medicinal virtues of the elaphoboscon, and says it is much esteemed as a food. The references however do not prove this plant to be cultivated, nor do the references to the pastinaca satisfactorily indicate the parsnip. I am unwilling to accept such evidence as we find that the cultivated parsnip was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Had to check this out - ĕlăphŏboscon, i, n., = ἐλαφοβόσκον (deer-food, stag's food),  I. wild parsnips, Plin. 22, 22, 37, § 79.   
Pliny says - 
CHAP. 37.—THE ELAPHOBOSCON: NINE REMEDIES.
The elaphoboscon is a ferulaceous plant, articulated, and about a finger in thickness. The seed of it is like that of dill, hanging in umbels resembling those of hart-wort in appearance, but not bitter.      
 
The leaves are very like those of olusatrum. This plant, too, is highly spoken of as an article of food; in addition to which, it is preserved and kept as a diuretic and for the purpose of assuaging pains in the sides, curing ruptures and convulsions, and dispelling flatulency and colic. 
It is used, too, for the cure of wounds inflicted by serpents and all kinds of animals that sting; so much so, indeed, that, as the story goes, stags, by eating of it, fortify themselves against the attacks of serpents. 
The root, too, applied topically, with the addition of nitre, is a cure for fistula, but, when wanted for this purpose, it must be dried first, so as to retain none of the juice; though, on the other hand, this juice does not at all impair its efficacy as an antidote to the poison of serpents.
The above is from this fascinating site with an interesting interface. 

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History 
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed. 

Zorn, J., Oskamp, D.L., Afbeeldingen der artseny-gewassen met derzelver Nederduitsche en Latynsche beschryvingen -1800
 The following is a synonymy founded on pictures and descriptions combined, all representing our long parsnip form of root, but some indicating the hollow crown, upon which some of the modern varieties are founded, especially Camerarius in 1586.

 Sisarum sativum magnum. Fuchs., 1542, 751.
 Pestnachen. Roszlin, 1550, 106.
 Pastinaca. Trag., 1552, 440.
 Pastinaca sativa. Matth., 1558, 353; 1570,500; 1598,548; Pin., 1 561, 318.
 Pastinaca domestica vulgi. Lob. Obs., 1 576, 407; ic. 1 591, 1, 709.
 De Pastinaca. Pastenay, gerlin oder moren. Pictorius, 1 5 8 1 , 94.
 Pastinaca domestica. Cam. Epit, 1 5 36, 507; Cast. Dur., 1617,837.
 Pastinaca sativa vulgi, Matthioli. Lugd., 1587, 719.
 Pastinaca latifolia sativa. Ger., 1597, 870; Dod., 1616, 680.
 Pastinaca sativa latifolia, Germanica, luteo flore. J. Bauh., 165 1, II., Pt. 2, 150, 151.
 Long parsnip of the moderns.

 In 1683 the long parsnips are figured in England as in great use for a delicate sweet food, are spoken of by Ray in 1686, Townsend 1726,  Mawe,  1778, and Miller  1807, etc.
The following "delicate sweet food" recipe is from 1810.  The lady was Esther Copley.


The cook's complete guide, on the principles of frugality, comfort, and elegance 


Vilmorin
The round parsnip, or Panais rond of the French, is called Siam by Don in 1834.
Its roots are funnel-shaped, tapering very abruptly, often curving inwards. I find little of its early history. It was noted in the Bon Jardinier for 1824, as also by Pirolle in Le Hort. Frangcais, by Mcintosh, Burr, and other more recent writers.

The introduction of the Parsnip to America was probably by the earliest colonists.

It is mentioned at Margarita Island by Hawkins  in 1564; in Peru by Acosta  in 1604, as cultivated in Virginia in 1609 and 1648, in Massachusetts in 1629, and as common in 1630, and were among the Indian foods destroyed by Gen. Sullivan in Western New York in 1779.

The parsnip is called:


  • in France panais, grand chervia cultive, pastenade blanche, patenais, racine blanche ;
  • in Germany, pastinake;
  • in Flanders and Holland, pastenaak
    ;
  • in Holland, pinkster nakel ; (I like this name :-)
  • in Denmark, pastinak;
  • in Italy, pastinaca ;
  • in Spain, chirivia ;
  • in Portugal, pastinaga ;
  • in Norway, pastinak.


The watercolors of Helen Sharp are delightful!
Sharp, Helen, Water-color sketches of American plants, especially New England, (1888-1910)
(To be continued)