Note 58 — Chapter III · Formation of a System of Arrangement of Plants.

“Papas Peruanorum. Arachidna, Theoph. forte. Flores elegantes, uncialis amplitudinis aut majores, angulosi, singulari folio constantes, sed ita complicato ut quinque folia discreta videantur, coloris exterius ex purpura candicantis, interius purpurascentis, radiis quinque herbaceis ex umbilico stellæ instar prodeuntibus, et totidem staminibus flavis in umbonem coeuntibus.” He says that the Italians do not know whence they had the plant, and that they call it Taratouffli. The name Potato was, in England, previously applied to the Sweet Potato (Convolvulus batatas), which was the common Potato, in distinction to the Virginian Potato, at the time of Gerard’s Herbal. (1597?) Gerard’s figures of both plants are copied from those of Clusius. It may be seen by the description of Arachidna, already quoted from Theophrastus, (above,) that there is little plausibility in Clusius’s conjecture of the plant being known to the ancients. I need not inform the botanist that this opinion is untenable.