The name of this plant is rendered famous by Homer; and hence has been much inquired into, as to its true sense, by the botanists of almost all times. The old interpreters of Homer explain this word by the "wild rue;" and the only reason for this is, that at some time, probably long after the days of Homer, the people of Cappadocia called the wild rue moly. But this plant is wholly different from the moly of Homer, which Theophrastus affirms grew in his time in Arcadia in great plenty, and had a round bulbous root like an onion, and long and grassy leaves like the squill. On the whole, the moly of Homer seems to have been a species of allium or garlic.