probably the fourth variety of Cardoon described by Mr. 
Anprew Maruews, in the 7th vol. p. 12, of the Transac-. 
tions of that most useful Institution. The stems, however; 
had not that deep tinge of red which could entitle it to the 
name of Red Cardoon.” 
The different kinds of Cardoon are eaten, after being 
blanched, as a salad, or boiled or stewed ; but by no means 
so generally in Britain as upon the Continent, though, ac- 
cording to Mr. Neitz, it was cultivated at Holyrood Palace 
so earlyas 1683. Its native countries are the South of Europe 
and the North of Africa; but the seeds having been con- 
veyed to South America, it has escaped into the extensive 
plain that lies between Buenos Ayres and the Andés, and 
has given such an extraordinary feature to that country, as 
deserves to be recorded under the history of the species. 
*« The great plain or Pampas of the Cordillera,” says Capt: 
Heap, in his ‘ Rough Notes taken during some rapid Jour- 
neys across the Pampas and among the Andés,’ ‘is about nine 
hundred miles in breadth ; and the part which I have visited, 
though under the same latitude, is divided into regions of 
different climate and produce. On leaving Buenos Ayres, 
the first of these regions is covered for one hundred and 
eighty miles with clover and thistles*; the second, which 
extends for four hundred and fifty miles, produces long 
grass; and the third region, which reaches the base of the 
Cordillera, is a grove of low trees and shrubs. The second 
and third of these regions have nearly the same appearance 
throughout the year, for the trees and shrubs are evergreens, 
and the immense plain of grass only changes its colour from 
green to brown; but the first region varies with the four 
seasons of the year in a most extraordinary manner. i 
7 winter, 
* I feel myself justified, although Captain Heap does not mention the 
scientific name of this “ Thistle,” in calling it the Cardoon, from the circum- 
stance of my most intelligent friend and valued correspondent Dr. Gites of 
Mendoza, having sent me the Cardoon from similar situations in South Ame- 
rica, accompanied by the following remarks :— This Thistle is very common 
in all the province of Buenos Ayres ; it grows to a height of six to eight feet 
and upwards. The florets of several flowers, if tied up in a rag, and put into 
a quantity of warm milk fora few minutes, or stirred about among it, coagulate 
the milk, in the same manner as rennet ; and the plant is commonly used for 
this purpose in Buenos Ayres as well as at Mendoza, where it is not unfre- 
quent in cultivated fields. 1 presume it is not indigenous to Mendoza, but 
introduced by some accident. It is also sometimes used as a vegetable for 
the table. The tender footstalks of the leaves, and also the young stems, when 
they are boiled, and the outer skin is taken off, have the flayour of Artichoke. 
