Ulva
Ulva alga palustris mollis ab uligine dicta nascitur circa paludes stantes et stagna que uliginosa loca dicuntur.
Apparatus:
Ulua ef | Vlna B {'u' misread as 'n'} | Uulua C {contamination with vulva} | Uulna or Uulua A|
mollis AC ef | molis B
ab vligine AC | ab uligĩe B | ab vlligine f | albugĩe ms. e {misinterpreted as beginning with the Arabic article al-}
paludes ABC e | paludos f
stantes AC | fontes (fõ- B) B ef
stagna AB ef | stangna C
Translation:
Ulva is a soft marsh plant, that took its name from the word uligo {"moisture, marshy quality of the earth"}. It grows around marshes with standing water and swamps, places that are described as uliginose {"marshy"}.
Commentary:
Simon has probably taken his information from Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, 17, 9, 100, where it says: Ulva/ v.l. Ulba et typhus herbae [quae] circa fontes et paludes stagnisque nascuntur. Ex quibus ulva/ v.l. ulba, id est alga mollis et quodammodo fungus, dicta ab uligine – "Ulva and typhus {'reed'} are plants which grow around springs and marshes and ponds. And from these ulva, which is a supple water plant and like a fungus {'mushroom'}, is named after uligo {'moisture, marshy quality of the earth'}".
Ulva, already attested in Cato, is a word of uncertain etymology.
Botanical identification:
It is difficult to identify ulva. Traditionally it is often translated with "sedge". Lewis & Short (1879) mention Ulva conferva. However, there is no identification that has gained wider acceptance. André (1985: 275), s.v. ulua sees it as a general term for marsh plants.
Ulva has survived into modern botanical terminology as a name for a genus of green algae.
