Fourthly, the cultivation of the various forms or species of _Brassica_ was diffused throughout the south-west of Asia at an epoch later than that of the ancient Hebrews.
This vivacious Umbellifer, furnished with several diverging roots in the form of a carrot, is believed to come from Eastern Asia. Linnæus indicates China, doubtfully; and Loureiro,[72] China and Cochin-China, where he says it is cultivated. Others have mentioned Japan and the Corea, but in these countries there are species which it is easy to confound with the one in question, particularly _Sium Ninsi_ and _Panax Ginseng_. Maximowicz,[73] who has seen these plants in China and in Japan, and who has studied the herbariums of St. Petersburgh, recognizes only the Altaic region of Siberia and the North of Persia as the home of the wild _Sium Sisarum_. I am very doubtful whether it is to be found in the Himalayas or in China, since modern works on the region of the river Amoor and on British India make no mention of it.
It is doubtful whether the ancient Greeks and Romans knew this plant. The names _Sisaron_ of Dioscorides, _Siser_ of Columella and of Pliny,[74] are attributed to it. Certainly the modern Italian name _sisaro_ or _sisero_ seems to confirm this idea; but how could these authors have failed to notice that several roots descend from the base of the stem, whereas all the other umbels cultivated in Europe have but a single tap-root? It is just possible that the _siser_ of Columella, a cultivated plant, may have been the parsnip; but what Pliny says of the _siser_ does not apply to it. According to him it was a medicinal plant, _inter medica dicendum_.[75] He says that Tiberius caused a quantity to be brought every year from Germany, which proves, he adds, that it thrives in cold countries.
If the Greeks had received the plant direct from Persia, Theophrastus would probably have known it. It came perhaps from Siberia into Russia, and thence into Germany, in which case the anecdote about Tiberius might well apply to the skirret. I cannot find any Russian name, certainly, but the Germans have original names, _Krizel_ or _Grizel_, _Görlein_ or _Gierlein_, which indicate an ancient cultivation, more than the ordinary name _Zuckerwurzel_, or sugar-root.[76] The Danish name has the same meaning—_sokerot_, whence the English _skirret_. The name _sisaron_ is not known in modern Greece; nor was it known there even in the Middle Ages, and the plant is not now cultivated in that country.[77] There are reasons for doubt as to the true sense of the words _sisaron_ and _siser_. Some botanists of the sixteenth century thought that _sisaron_ was perhaps the _parsnip_ proper, and Sprengel[78] supports this idea.