Without quoting other classical authorities, the ancient practice may be illustrated by the observations of modern travellers, who mention that the Common Mallow is still an article of consumption in the same parts of the world.
Biddulph, who visited Syria about the year 1600, says, he “saw near Aleppo many poor people gathering mallows, and three-leaved grass, and asked them what they did with it, and they answered, that it was all their food, and that they boiled it, and did eat it.” (Collection of Voyages and Travels from the Library of the E. of Oxford, p. 807.)
Dr. Sibthorp states, that the Malva Silvestris grows wild in Cyprus, and is called Μόλωχα. He also says, “The wild mallow is very common about Athens: the leaves are boiled and eaten as a pot-herb, and an ingredient in the Dolma.” (Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey, edited by Walpole, p. 245.) Dr. Holland mentions both Malva Silvestris and Althæa Officinalis among the officinal plants, which he found in Cephalonia. (Travels in Greece, p. 543, 4to.).
The Althæa Officinalis, or Marsh Mallow, is called by the Greek authors Ἀλθαία, by the Latin, Hibiscus. Theophrastus says, that it went also under the name of wild mallow[192]. Whilst the Common Mallow, though highly esteemed for its medicinal virtues, was principally regarded as a substantial article of food; the Marsh Mallow, on the contrary, seems to have been rarely used except as an article of the Materia Medica[193]; and, as its peculiar properties were likely to be more matured in the wild than cultivated state, it does not appear to have been grown in gardens[194]. Theophrastus describes it by comparing it with the Common Mallow, and mentions its application, both internally and externally, as a medicine[195]. Dioscorides (l. iii. c. 139.) gives similar details. Besides mentioning the proper name of the plant in Greek and in Latin, he calls it, “a kind of wild mallow.” Palladius (l. xi. p. 184. Bip.) explains “Hibiscus” to be the same as “Althæa.” See also Pliny, l. xx. c. 14. ed. Bip. Virgil alludes to the use of it as fodder for goats, and as a material for weaving baskets[196].
[192] Hist. Plant. l. ix. cap. 15. p. 188. Heinsii.
[193] Calpurnius (Eclog. iv. 32,) mentions the “Hibiscus” as used for food, but only by persons in a state of great destitution.
[194] At a later period, however, we find the Althæa Officinalis under the name of “Ibischa Mis-malva” in a catalogue of the plants, which Charlemagne selected for cultivation in the gardens attached to his villas. See Sprengel, Hist. Rei Herb. i. 220.
[195] Hist. Plant. l. ix. cap. 19. p. 192. ed. Heinsii.
[196] Eclog. ii. 30. and x. 71. See Servius, Heyne, and J. II. Voss., ad loc.
The Hemp-leaved Mallow, Althæa Cannabina, is once mentioned by Dioscorides (lib. iii. c. 141.). Giving an account of hemp, he distinguishes between the cultivated and the wild. He says of the wild hemp, that the Romans called it Cannabis Terminalis[197]. After mentioning the medical properties of the plant, Dioscorides says, that its bark was useful for making ropes. The truth of this observation will be apparent to every botanist. The plants belonging to the natural order Malvaceæ are all remarkable for the abundance of strong and beautiful fibres in their bark[198].