An engraving depicting Barometz or Vegetable lamb of Tartary. 1896. Tartary was a name used from the Middle Ages until the twentieth century to designate the great tract of northern and central Asia stretching from the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Vegetable Lamb of Tartary (Planta Tartarica Barometz) was a legendary zoophyte of Central Asia, once believed to grow sheep as its fruit.