256 
1 C. Corvini (Desv.- journ. bot. 3. p. 158.) ©. H. Native of 
sandy fields and vineyards, in Arragon, south of France, Italy, 
Hungary, and Tauria. Bunias cochlearioides, Murr. nov. comm. 
gett. 1. 1777. p. 42. t.3. Waldst. et. Kit. hung. 2. p. 111. t. 
107. Myagrum irregulare, Asso. Myagrum rugòsum, Vill, 
Myagrum perfoliatum, 8, Lam. Crambe Corvini, All. My- 
agrum erucefodlium, Vill. dauph. Rapistrum_ burszfolium, 
Berg. phyt. Cochlearia auriculata, Lam. dict. Crambe am- 
plexicatlis, Russel. Myagrum bursefolium, Thuil. Crambe 
bursæfòlia, Lher. Laélia cochlearioides, Pers. ench. 2. p. 185. 
Var. B, Mydgrum iberotdes (Brot. phyt. no. 43. p. 95. t. 42.) 
Native of Portugal. 
Corvin’s Calepina. Fl. Apr. June. Clt. 1816. Pl. 1 foot. 
Cult. A rather curious annual plant. The seeds only require to 
be sown in the open border, A dry, sandy soil will suit it best. 
Tribe XVI. 
RAPHA'NEE (plants agreeing with Raphanus in many im- 
portant characters, ) or ORTHOPLO'CEZ (See Sub- Order III.) 
LOMENTA‘CEZ (lomentum, a loment; shape of pods.) D. C. 
syst. 2. p. 649. prod. 1. p. 225. Silicle or silique dividing across 
into one or few-seeded joints or cells (f. 47. k. m.). ‘Seeds glo- 
bose. Cotyledons folded together (f. 47. j. f.). 
XCVIII. CRA’MBE (from xpapGn, the Greek name of Sea- 
kale, or Sea-cabbage, which is derived from xpap(oc, dry; be- 
cause the plants usually grow in sand.) Tourn. inst. 211. t. 100. 
—Geert. fruct. 2. p. 292. te 142. Lin. gen. no. 825.- D. C. syst. 
2. p. 650. prod. 1. p. 225. . 
Lin. syst. Tetradyndmia, Siliculdsa. Silicle 2-jointed. Lower 
joint abortive, upper one globose, 1-seeded (f. 47. h.). Cotyledons 
thick, somewhat foliaceous, profoundly emarginate. Herbs or sub- 
shrubs. Leaves sometimes thick, sometimes membranous, hairy 
or smooth; cauline ones alternate, stalked, pinnately-toothed, 
cut, pinnatifid or lyrate. Racemes elongated, many-flowered, 
disposed into lax panicles; pedicels filiform, erect, bractless. 
Flowers white, smelling like honey. 
Sect. I. Sarcocra’mse (from capt capxoc, sarx sarcos, flesh ; 
and kpauBn ; because the leaves of the plants contained in this 
section are fleshy.) D. C. syst. 2. p. 651. prod. 1. p. 225. 
Lower joint of silicle depressed, thick ; stigma sessile. Larger 
filaments furnished each at the top with a tooth. Roots perennial, 
with many stems rising from the neck. Leaves large, usually 
fleshy. The young shoots of all are eatable when blanched. 
1 C. maritima (Lin. spec. 937.) Longer filaments forked ; 
pods blunt ; leaves roundish, sinuate, waved, toothed, and are, 
as well as the stem, very smooth. X4. H. Native in the sand 
on the sea-shore, from Sweden to France, and along the Medi- 
terranean sea on the European side ; also in Tauria, along the 
Euxine sea. Plentiful in Britain, in the sand by the sea-side. 
Oed. fl. dan. t. 316. Smith, engl. bot. t. 924. 
Sea-kale (Eng.) Chou marin (Fr.) Meerkohl(Germ.) Crambio 
(Ital.). The country people in the west of England have been, 
from time immemorial, in the practice of watching when the shoots 
and leaf-stalks begin to push up the sand and gravelin March and 
April, when they cut them off underground, as is done in gather- 
ing Asparagus, and boil them as greens. About the middle of 
the last century the plant was first introduced into gardens, grown 
on deep sandy soil, and blanched either by sand, ashes, litter, or 
by covering with flower-pots, earthen pots made on purpose, or 
any Opaque cover. It is now almost as universal in good gar- 
dens as Asparagus, and, like it, is forced, either by taking up 
the roots and planting them on a hot-bed, or in a border of a 
forcing-house, or by covering or surrounding them with litter, in 
CRUCIFERZ. XCVII. Caterina. 
« 
XCVIII. Cramse. 
the open garden. Before covering a bed with warm litter, 
each plant, or stool of plants, is covered with an earthenware 
blanching pot, or a wicker case, to keep off the dung from 
the young shoots, and to ensure their being blanched. No 
plant is so easily forced, and, unlike Asparagus, it yields pro- 
duce the first spring after raising from seed. The taste is 
very like that of Cauliflower. The whole plant is smooth, 
of a beautiful glaucous hue, covered with a very fine meal. 
However, it varies much; for sometimes it is to be seen 
almost with green-leaves. The radical leaves are large, more 
or less sinuated or indented, containing in the axil a bud or ru- 
diment of next year’s stem. The flowers are in ample pani- 
cles ; they are small, ofa pure white, and smell strongly of honey. 
The precise period of its introduction to the garden is unknown. 
Parkinson and Bryant state, that the radical leaves are cut by the 
inhabitants where the plant grows wild, and boiled as cabbage ; 
and W. Jones, of Chelsea, assured the late W. Curtis, that he 
saw bundles of it, in a cultivated state, exposed for sale in Chi- 
chester market, in 1753. J. Maher observes, (Hort. trans. vol. 1.) 
that “the Crámbe maritima was known, and sent from this 
kingdom to the continent, more than two hundred years ago, by 
L’Obel ; but Miller, in 1731, was the first who wrote upon It pro- 
fessionally. About the year 1767, it was cultivated by Lettsom, 
at Grove-hill, and by him brought into general notice in the neigh- 
bourhood of London. Inthe Gardener’s Dictionary, published 1774, 
by James Gordon, at Fountain Bridge, near Edinburgh, directions 
are given for the cultivation of this vegetable, and for blanching 
it by covering the beds, four inches deep, with sand or gravel. 
Professor Martyn has printed some valuable instructions for its 
cultivation, from the MSS. of the Rev. M. Laurent; and the late 
W. Curtis, by a pamphlet on the culture, has done more to re- 
commend it, and diffuse the knowledge of it, than any of his 
predecessors. Sea-kale is now a common vegetable in Covent 
Garden market, and, Mr. Neill observes, has begun to appear on 
the green-stalls of Edinburgh ; but in France it is almost un- 
known. Bastien (Manuel du Jardinier, 1807,) describes the 
Chou marin d'Angleterre; but he appears to have tried to use 
the broad green leaves, instead of the blanched shoots. Dis- 
gusted with his preparation, he denies the merit of Sea-kale, and 
resigns the plant, with a sneer, to colder climates.” 
The young spring shoots, and the stalks of the unfolded 
leaves, blanched by rising through the ground in a wild state, OF 
by earthing up in gardens, are the parts used; and when boiled 
and dressed like Asparagus, are not inferior to that vegetable. 
They form also an excellent ingredient in soups. Sometimes 
the ribs of the large leaves are peeled and dressed as 4 sparagus, 
after the plant has ceased’to send up young shoots. By forcing, 
Sea-kale may be had in perfection from November till May, 4 
period including all the dead months in the year. It is remarke 
by Nicol, that vegetables seldom improve by forcing, but that 
Sea-kale forms an exception ; the forced shoots produced at mid- 
winter being more crisp and delicate in flavour than those pro- 
cured in the natural way, in April and May. Sir George Mac- 
kenzie observes, (Caled. hort. mem. 1. p. 313.) that Sea-kale 
cannot easily be overdone in cooking; and that, after bemp 
well boiled, it should be thoroughly drained, and then suffere 
to remain a few minutes before the fire, that a further portion ° 
moisture may be exhaled.” f J 
Sea-kale may be cultivated by rearing the plants from seet, 
on a seed-bed, and when a year old transplanting them into be S, 
at the distance of eighteen inches*each way. But in setting 
young plants, place them in patches of three plants each; takıng 
care, in removing them from the seed-bed, not to injure te 
tap-roots. 
Sea-kale plants of a proper age may be had of any nursery 
man, but in well-regulated gardens, a part should be annually 
