Theophrastus[218] (Hist. Pl. viii. 13.) gives the following account of a bulbous plant, called by him Βολβὸς ἐριοφόρος, the root of which supplied materials for weaving:—“It grows in bays, and has the wool under the first coats of the bulb so as to be between the inner eatable part and the outer. Socks and other garments are woven from it. Hence this kind is woolly, and not hairy, like that in India.”
[218] “Theophrastus relates, that there is a kind of bulb growing about the banks of rivers, and that between its outer rind and the part of it which is eaten there is a woolly substance, out of which they make certain kinds of socks and cloths. But in the copies which I have found, he neither mentions in what country this is done, nor anything else with greater exactness, except that the bulb is called eriophoros; nor does he make any mention at all of spartum, although he examined the whole subject with great care 390 years before my time, as I have observed in another place (Viz., lib. xv. 1.), from which circumstance it appears, that spartum came into use since that time.”
It is difficult to determine what plant is meant, though the description seems accurate and scientific. Billerbeck absurdly supposes it to be cotton-grass[219]. By former botanists, men of great eminence, it was supposed to be Scilla Hyacinthoides. Sprengel objects, that this species does not grow in Greece[220]. Sir James Smith however (article Scilla in Rees’s Cyclop.) represents it as growing in Madeira, Portugal, and the Levant. If this account be true, Theophrastus may have been acquainted with it. In another article, Eriophorus, Sir J. Smith doubts whether either Scilla Hyacinthoides or any other bulb produces wool of such quality and in such quantity as to answer the description of Theophrastus. But, we learn from other well-informed botanists, that various bulbs have under the outermost coats a copious tissue of tough fibres, fully sufficient to be employed in weaving. This is particularly the case with the genera Amaryllis, Crinum, and Pancratium, as well as Scilla. The fibrous coats serve as a protection to the interior and more vital parts of the bulb.
[219] Flora Classica, p. 20.
[220] German translation of Theophrastus, Notes, vol. ii. p. 283.
Hoffmansegg and Link, who travelled in Portugal, in the description of Scilla Hyacinthoides, say, “Bulbus tomento viscoso tectus[221].”
[221] Annals of Botany, by König and Sims, Lond. 1805, vol. i. 101.
Sonnini says of the Scilla Maritima, “The Greeks of the Archipelago call it Kourvara-skilla, kourvara signifying properly a ‘tuft of thread’ (peloton de fil[222]).” Does this refer to the fibres mentioned by Theophrastus? The size of this bulb, which is the common squill, used in pharmacy, seems to favor this supposition. It is often as large as a man’s head[223]. Hoffmansegg and Link[224] say it grows abundantly on barren hills in Spain and Portugal; but add, “The name maritima is not quite proper: for the plant is seldom met with near the sea-shore, and sometimes very remote from it.” On the other hand, it must have been so called, because it was reported by others to grow on the sea-shore; and Sir James Smith (in Rees’s Cyclopedia) expressly states, that it grows on “sandy shores.” Redouté says the same.
[222] Voyage en Grèce, tom. i. ch. 14. p. 295.
[223] “Bulbus ovatus, tunicatus, crassitie ferè capitis humani.” Desfontaines’ Flora Atlantica, tom. i. p. 297.