Vela

Vela Dyascorides herba est folia minora habens quam eruca sed non dissimilia et florem violaceum, semen est ei velut in foliculis oblongis ordine stipatum prout nasturtii gustu calefactorium et submordens, supra in .a.

Apparatus:

Vela | Vella ms. e Ps.Galen
{herba} est om. f
folia | folio B
minora | maiora AC
habens | habet f
{dissimilia} et om. B
violaceum | violazeum C
velut A fj | uelud BC e | om. p
foliculis | folliculis p
{folliculis} ualde add. p
stipatum | stippatũ f
nasturtii AC ejp | nasturzii B | nasturcii f
supra in .a. om. fj

Translation:

Vela according to Dyascorides is a herb that has leaves smaller than eruca {“rocket”} has, but they are not dissimilar, and it has a violet-coloured flower. Its seeds are in oblong pods, arranged in order like nasturtium {“water cress”}, of warming taste and slightly biting. See also above under “A”. {N.b. No suitable entry beginning with "A" has so far been found}.

Commentary:

Simon’s entry is taken from Dyascorides alphabeticus, Bodmer [f 74v] [[1]], which in turn is taken from the Alphabet of Galen, cf. ed. Everett (2012: 368): “289) Vella”.
The text is also available online in the Basel edition of 1542 of works mistakenly attributed to Galen: De simplicibus medicaminibus, column 343: De uella. [[2]].
This text is however not part of the original Greek Dioscoridean text nor of Dioscorides Longobardus.

Vela:
The word vela is mentioned by Pliny, 22, 75, 158, ed. Rackham (1938-63: VI.404, 406), where he speaks of a plant called irio, and he says:
"Irionem inter fruges sesamae similem esse diximus et a Graecis erysimon vocari, Galli velam appellant…. – "We have already mentioned irio when dealing with the cereals, it is like sesama (“sesame”) and it is named by the Greeks erysimon and by the Gauls vela…." cf. Simon’s entries Irion and Erismon.

Botanical identification:

André (1985: 268), s.v. uela: Sisymbrium officinale Scop. “hedge mustard” [[3]]; Sisymbrium irio L. “London rocket” [[4]].

The description given fits hedge mustard in most points, e.g. its leaves [[5]] are similar to those of rocket [[6]]. However it has a yellow rather than violet flower, although the Greek Dioscorides does describe ἐρύσιμον /erýsimon/ as having μηλίζοντα /mēlízonta/ “quince-yellow” flowers, and Dioscorides Longobardus says the erisimon flower is mellinus "honey-coloured" [[7]]. Its seed pods [[8]] can be seen as being similar to those of watercress [[9]]. The taste of its seeds – as the popular name suggests – is indeed somewhat mustard-like.

WilfGunther (talk) 20:49, 18 March 2016 (GMT)

See also Irion, Erismon.

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