The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary

The Vegetable Lamb in a 17th century illustration

The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary (Latin: Agnus scythicus or Planta Tartarica Barometz) is a mythical plant of central Asia, believed to grow sheep as its fruit. The sheep were connected to the plant by an umbilical cord and grazed the land around the plant. When all the grazing material was gone, both the plant and sheep died. In the medieval period, the plant was said to explain the existence of cotton. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (902x1172, 301 KB) The barometz or vegetable lamb. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (902x1172, 301 KB) The barometz or vegetable lamb. ... Image File history File links Vegetable_lamb_of_tartary. ... Image File history File links Vegetable_lamb_of_tartary. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Myth (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ... Species See text. ... For other uses, see Fruit (disambiguation). ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... For other uses, see Cotton (disambiguation). ...

Underlying the myth is a real plant, Cibotium barometz, a tree fern of the genus Cibotium that is native to Southeast Asia. Tree Fern refers to any fern that grows with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level. ... Cibotium is a family of perhaps a dozen tropical tree fern species - subject to much confusion and revision - distributed fairly narrowly in Hawaii, Southeast Asia and the cloud forests of Central America. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...

The plant has been known by various other names including the Scythian Lamb, the Borometz, Barometz and the Borametz (pronounced Baranetz, from russian baran (he-sheep)). Approximate extent of Scythia and Sarmatia in the 1st century BC (the orange background shows the spread of Eastern Iranian languages, among them Scytho-Sarmatian). ...

External links

• Legend of the Lamb-Plant
• Vegetable Lamb at pantheon.org
• Note to Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, III.28