I 51 S, ~, (']3;)

A note on Hyoscyamus luteus

In JEROME E. BRooKl!' adminblc monogn.ph on tobocco (Tal,ac,o, New York, 1937, Vol. ,, p. ~,3) {1), • plant deocrihed by REMRfJ<T Dooo•N S under the name of Hy,,,,:yanua /uu,,s i1 identi fied H the modem Nia,tia~a t,ulica . If th i, i, corrc,c<. then DoooENs WH the fin t writer to describe thi , opecic• of tobac<:o. In this note l wish to review the evidence in favour of1hi 1 idcntificuion.

l)HJSKORID"'lmcntion s in hisMaltTiaffl«kaaspeciesofhcn. banccallcdoloo~l',j,\o<.&!J<(Hyo,tya"',ulu tou1).Jti., not known what plant Dm:sIORIDES intended to describe, thou gh so me mod em comm cntato n have ouggcstcd Hyoscya"'u, aumu (~) Ao I , .. ult the .._dicr herbal, of the sixteenth cc,ntury uoually rc,peat DiosKORIDliS' meagre descri ption of thi , plant without

It i, therefor e ,urpri oin~ to find that REMBatT DoDOrns, in his hc,hal CTMyu/Jo«• (Antwerp •SH, p. -tRi). desc ribes thi o plant ~t consid era ble length. and illumatc 1 it with a figure (Fig . 1). Dol>Of.NS docs not indud say that th is wu a new plrnt, but thc rc io •bund ant evidenc e to •how that it w" certainl y new to other botani ota ofthetimc. Lum1A.'ICUILIAllACxplicitly 1tatc1 t h>tthc 1/yo«ya,,.u, /,a.,.. of D100KORIDOS w'" unknown, and th>t he himo,,lf wu ,rn,cquaintc<I with the plant dCKribcd by Dooo ttfl under th>I name (3). MATTHIOLUI, in• later cJition of his

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herbal (1565), pro l>ably rcfr n 10 DoDODS wh<:n h<: b y, that ,ome ho,edescribed•cr1tOinnewpl•n1bruugb1inllllt oly .. 1 •pedn ofhenbane.(4)

Morttivcr, 1hcre a,e sc,·er:al ,euoM fo.- auppoting 1h>t thi• Hyosrya"'~' 1~1,,., rOKrnbkd Nicolia"" n11tica. Fi1·1tly, tho

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d<""ription and illu.i,..tjon corrctpond f•irlyw ell with Nicoti"'1a ...,,fro. (5) Secondly, Ci,uu:s o>. L'f:nos • , diocuooing the tobacro plant in 157~. ,a y1 that • smallu 1ptti ... pre1um,bly N. nalka , had become known in Europe: twenty )·ean before, ond had heen described hy no no,ssw jththe name HY,,"Y""'"' 1.1,..,. (b) 'l'hirdly, JOHN GERAkOlt atesi n hi, Hnba/1(1.. ondon 1597, p . 1325) that Yellow Hrnbane, or lfyo,rya,,..., l•I=, i• called bysorne"Pet um,mdPetu n:ofother,K icotiona,ofc'!rcor • Frenchm an thatbroughtth e ... desfrom the lndi n" "

On the other hand, it i• <>tr>ordinary that neither Dooo t:u nor ~hrr1u01. l!SU)'I that Hyasqam•• I"' "' ' ".t o obta ined from Ameri ca. Almoot cen,inly they would h1ve mentioned thi , fact if they haJ known it .

h en more rem1rhhle i, a refe,..,nce to Hywryamu, 1., ,.., in Gts,mt' • Dt IJ.mi, Cm""";"" (156, ). "J'his quotation •pJ><>B to ha, ·e been overlooked "Hy OOO)'Omuo albu• & lut eu, , acotivae herb ae. C[ord us] Fate tur aulem se dubito"' an, .• ,.., Hyoscyami , int. Luten , quidem peregrin, ilia herb , e<t, quam aliqui e Syri a allat am aiunt, ,.pore ,cri fforibuo ll y°""yami, lute is l\fonopc:lii quid1m Pri1pc:iarn ,·ocanl a forma fructu o ... H)' OO•

cyam' tcria 1ptt "es [".e.l uteu1] ruv ·· ·nl rt' , .. 'tur, oem"ne, quod nupermi oitamicu o ad me , e,ili,subr uffoet Fusco, allato e C=• ·" (7) From thi o it •ppe oro that oome believed Hyo,ry~"'"' h,1.,,, to come from Syria, •nd that GESNfill obtained the 1aed1 frornCr etebefore1561. lti o d;!ficultto ouppouthaithi o plont could bca1pttiesof tob 1cco

ltwHlal oobc noticedthat, accocdingtoGLSN'" . thi, pl,ntw•• sometime • called P,ia{'na . Now J ACQoU GOl!ORY point> out inhi 1 t.-.cton toh1cco( 157,)tlu.tth e "'f emole ""tohacco plantw .. "'lf"rdedbyrome,notH • vatictyofto~ , but Ht he"'Saly>io,r"

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'" or " l'ti aph" (8) Thia may p<• luiPo be the pbnt " l ndicum utyri on," whi<,h o..._,..,. had <Mntioned u early u 'H' · (9) Unfortun,t ely 1hit plant ha not been identified.

h i1 cle1r,howev,:r.chatin thc 1Ul1ttnth«nturytherew11M>mc confuoionbctweenNkoliaMnu&,r1n d 1notMr plllllt, not identi­fied, whichappea ro toh .. eb«n in,rodu~ into Europe from Syria. Hence in •he •~n« of 1ny cwiden« to , how tluit Do001<1<t ' llyr,,t:y- MJ i,.,..., WM brought from Am«ie1. it oc,:nu 1h1tit 1 iden1ifia. 1ionwi 1hNko/i...,,nuric•mu1 t becon 1idrn:d rathe r doubtful.

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