Should it be said that the _scolymus_ must be our artichoke because no other plant of the thistle kind is known the bottom of the calyx of which is eatable, I would in answer observe:--First, other species may have been known in ancient times, which perhaps have been disused and forgotten since the more pleasant and delicious artichoke became known. It is certain that many old plants have in this manner been banished from our gardens by the introduction of new ones. Thus have common alexanders (_Smyrnium olusatrum_) fallen into neglect since celery was made known by the Italians, about the end of the seventeenth century; and so at present has the cultivation of winter-cresses (_Erysimum barbarea_), bulbous-rooted chærophyllum (_Chærophyllum bulbosum_), rocket (_Brassica eruca_), and others, been abandoned since better vegetables have been obtained to supply their place. Secondly, it is certain that, even at present, the bottom of the calyx of some others of the thistle-kind, besides the genus of the artichoke, is eaten; such as the cotton-thistle (_Onopordum acanthium_), and the carline thistle (_Carlina acaulis_), without mentioning the sun-flowers which has been brought to us in modern times from South America. Without engaging to examine all the hypotheses of commentators and ancient botanists on this subject, I shall take notice of one conjecture, which, upon mature consideration, appears to have some probability. Clusius[614] is of opinion that the plant called by the botanists of the seventeenth century _Carduus chrysanthemus_, and by those of the present age _Scolymus hispanicus_, the golden thistle, is the _scolymus_ of Theophrastus; because its leaves, beset with white prickles, and its pulpy, sweet, milky roots are eaten, and excel in taste all roots whatever, even those of skirret; and because it was collected and sold in Spain, Italy, and Greece. But what has principally attracted my attention to this conjecture, is the account of Bellon[615], that this plant in Crete or Candia is called still by the Greeks there _ascolymbros_. This name seems to have arisen from _scolymos_; and besides Stapel[616] found in an old glossary the word _ascolymbros_. I am likewise convinced that, as Tournefort[617] has said, the botany of the ancients would be much illustrated and rendered more certain, were the names used by the modern Greeks known. It is certain that many old names have been preserved till the present time with little variation; but nevertheless I can as little admit the assertion of Clusius as that of Stapel; for _Scolymus hispanicus_ has neither the bottom of the calyx pulpy, nor wool adhering to the seeds, like the _scolymus_ of Theophrastus; and the young roots only can be eaten, because, like those of most plants of the genus of the thistle, they lose their milk when the flower is in bloom; lastly, the leaves retain their power of pricking, even after they have become withered.