‘BAROMETZ’ or
the ‘TARTARIAN LAMB’
The Legend of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, also known as the ‘Barometz’ or ‘Tartarian Lamb’, arises from the 16th century when it was believed there was a plant in the area of Georgia / Russia that grew small lambs when it bloomed. When each lamb was ripe enough or developed, it would fall off and graze on the area around the plant. When the time arrived, the lamb would die, wilt and decompose back into the soil providing the nutrition for a new vegetable lamb plant to grow again.
Source: Lee, H. (1887) The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary: A Curious Fable of the Cotton Plant. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington.
If you wish to download the full original edition of the book, click here. In may 2025, Vegetable Lamp Press with republish a new edition of the book made for modern eyes and times.
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary (Latin: Agnus scythicus or Planta Tartarica Barometz) is a legendary zoophyte of Central Asia, once believed to grow sheep as its fruit. It was believed the sheep were connected to the plant by an umbilical cord and grazed the land around the plant. When all accessible foliage was gone, both the plant and sheep died. Underlying the legend is the cotton plant, which was unknown in Northern Europe before the Norman conquest of Sicily. In Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopædia, Agnus scythicus was described as a kind of zoophyte, said to grow in Tartary, resembling the figure and structure of a lamb. It was also called Agnus Vegetabilis, Agnus Tartaricus and bore the reported endonyms of Borometz, Borametz and Boranetz.
Source: Wikipedia
‘AGNUS TARTARICUS’ or
‘BORANETZ’
‘BORANETZ’