Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

DESERTS, RIVERS, ETC. 33
mentions its existence on the Hindu Kush, and the fact
that sheep were very fond of it.
In the Caspian provinces the contrast in vegetation is
extraordinary. There everything is luxuriant, and owing
to the humidity elms, beeches, oaks, maples, ash, limes, and
other trees, including the valuable box, grow to perfection.
I shall never forget the wild vines festooning the trees, the
ferns, and above all the carpeting of snowdrops, which I
saw near Astrabad. Violets, too, and primroses flourish
luxuriantly. The flora, it is to be observed, is not a tropical
one ; rather it is that of Southern Europe and of the
Caucasus. Its intensity is due to the protection from all
cold and to the abundance of moisture. Along the shores
of the Persian Gulf the climate is very hot and dry, and the
date is palm a
pleasing, though rare, feature of the landscape.
At Minab, however, near Bandar Abbas, there are
extensive date
plantations, and in Persian Baluchistan these
afford relief to the
eyes
in a country which is almost
entirely desert.
To conclude this brief notice, lucerne, Medicago sativa
or Herba Medica^ was introduced into Europe from Persia,
^
as we learn from Pliny. Moreover, Sir G. Birdwood
considers that Mazanderan was the primeval habitat of the
vine, and the legend of the discovery of wine given
in
Chapter XII. supports this theory. The peach, the nectar-
ine, jasmine, lilac, and myrtle were also of Persian
origin,
and have retained their Persian names.^ Finally we know
^ Vide Pliny, H.N. xviii. 144, "medica (herba) externa etiam Graeciae est, ut a
Medis advecta per Bella Persarum quae Darius intulit."
^
I attach a valuable note which has been drawn up by Sir George Birdwood :
" The following list of the more notable fruit-trees, flowering plants, and culinary
vegetables, natives of Media and Persia that have become widely naturalized in Europe,
I have restricted for the most part to those of them that have retained among us their
Persian names :—
"
I. Apple. Its name is said to be taken from Avellana in Campania [which indeed
gave its Latin name to Filberts [Nux A-vellam)], and its Persian name certainly is sih ;
but considering that nearly all the Central Asian and European names of this tree begin
with ab, af, ap, and a'u, it is open to conjecture that Avella took its name from, rather
than gave it to, the 'Apple.'
"2. Apricot, or Apricock. Its name comes to us through the Latin praecoquus and
i Greek ^eplKOKKOv, a
corruption of the Arabic al-berkak and is
j ultimately traceable to the
'
Old Persian \.
pachata, well-cooked,' '
well-ripe.'
; "3. Asparagus. Its name goes back, through the Greek, to the Old Persian sparega.
" 4 and 5. Chestnut and Fig. Both these fruit-trees are natives of Media and Persia,
but there is no trace of Persian in their English names 5 the Chestnut, the most magnificent
of naturalized European trees, taking its name from Castanum in Thessaly ; and
the Fig its name from the Latin ^c«j, a word of untraceable origin.
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