Koen G > 11-01-2017, 10:47 AM
Oocephalus > 11-01-2017, 01:40 PM
Anton > 11-01-2017, 01:51 PM
-JKP- > 11-01-2017, 08:39 PM
(11-01-2017, 01:51 PM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Well, the times in question are pre-Linnaeus, so the whole classification approach did not exist then yet. The question is whether trientalis could be called (or messed with) Lysimachia back then. Need to check what Pliny says...
Anton > 11-01-2017, 08:57 PM
Quote:King Lysimachus first discovered the plant which from him has received the name of lysimachia, and the merits of which have been so highly extolled by Erasistratus. This plant has green leaves resembling those of the willow, and a purple blossom: it has all the appearance of a shrub, the branches are erect, and it has a pungent smell. It is found growing in watery soils. The properties of it are so extremely powerful, that if placed upon the yoke when beasts of burden are restive, it will be sure to overcome all stubbornness on their part.
-JKP- > 11-01-2017, 09:45 PM
(11-01-2017, 08:57 PM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Here's what Pliny You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. about Lysimachia (XXV, 35):
Quote:King Lysimachus first discovered the plant which from him has received the name of lysimachia, and the merits of which have been so highly extolled by Erasistratus. This plant has green leaves resembling those of the willow, and a purple blossom: it has all the appearance of a shrub, the branches are erect, and it has a pungent smell. It is found growing in watery soils. The properties of it are so extremely powerful, that if placed upon the yoke when beasts of burden are restive, it will be sure to overcome all stubbornness on their part.
Note the footnote 2, and note that the blossom in the VMS is painted blue (which might stand for purple).
Anton > 11-01-2017, 09:54 PM
-JKP- > 11-01-2017, 10:19 PM
(11-01-2017, 09:54 PM)Anton Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I'm not a friend of botany, but as I understand the matter, Trientalis is quite close in appearance to "modern" Lysimachia, so some botanists even today prefer to account it to Lysimachia species. So in the past there may have been confusion between the two. If the VMS author's intention was to depict Trientalis but he knew it under the name of Lysimachia or simply did not separate between the two, he might have consulted Pliny for Lysimachia and borrow from there the mnemonics of lion claws, and also the "purple" color which (as the commenters to Pliny suggest) is just a mistake by Pliny.
Actually, the best tiebreaker here would be to check whether we can find a "real" Lysimachia in the VMS. If we can, then this alleged Trientalis cannot go under the name of "Lysimachia", and we'll need to look for other meanings of its mnemonics.