Note 77 — HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Reading edition
Turner, the father of English Botany, was of opinion, that it was the Polygonum Bistorta; Munting, a Dutch physician, that it was the Hydrolapathum Magnum, or Rumex Aquaticus or Great Water Dock, an opinion which received the sanction of Ray. Others have supposed it to have been Polygonum Persicaria, and some have considered it as the Primula Auricula. This one example is adduced to shew the mortifying uncertainty that involves the history of ancient plants.