i>s THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



and would not survive the winter storms. On revisiting the 

 spot in July, 1918, I was delighted to find that it had not only 

 persisted, but that the original colony has increased to some 

 twelve vigorous specimens, with numerous plants beginning to 

 appear. I conclude, therefore, that it has come to stay, and 

 may safely be regarded as a permanent addition to our flora. 



There is no specimen of it from the United States in 

 either the Gray Herbarium (except my own), the National 

 Herbarium, the Rocky Mountain Herbarium at Laramie, 

 Wyoming, the herbarium of the Xew York Botanical Garden, 

 or that of the University of Washington, so I feel justified in 

 assuming that this is its first recorded appearance in this 

 country. 



The genus was established by Tournefort in IT.')."), and 

 given the name Crambe, which is Greek for cabbage, the true 

 cabbage being placed by the same author in the genus Brassica, 

 the Latin word of the same meaning. There are about twentv 

 species, natives of Europe and Western Asia. The flowers, 

 which I have not yet seen, are said to be white, honey-scented 

 and rather showy. Air. J. F. Macbride of the Gray Herbarium 

 informs me that C. maritima is "apparently well known, espec- 

 ially in England, as a cultivated food-plant, but rarely grown 

 in America, although said to be worthy of cultivation. It 

 requires the same care as rhubarb, and the young shoots are 

 blanched by covering after growth in the spring. The white 

 shoots are then prepared as asparagus." 



If any readers of The Botanist have had any experience in 

 the cultivation of this plant, it would be interesting to hear 

 from them. The taste of the raw leaves is almost exactly that 

 of cabbage, but there seems to be no tendency to form a head, 

 the aspect of the plant being very similar to that of the com- 

 mon kale. 



[The editor has long grown this plant in his garden 

 from roots sent out by the Q. S. Department of Agriculture. 



