Cl-ap. 62.1 PIPEIIITIS, LIBA:N0TIS, ASB SMTliyiUM. 203 



taiirj',^ bitter ; in cucumbers, gourds, and lettuces, watery ; 

 and in parsley, anise, and fennel, pungent auvd odoriferous. 

 The salt flavour is the only one that is not to be found ^^ in 

 plants, with the sole exception, indeed, of the chicheling ^' 

 vetch, though even then it is to be found on the exterior 

 surface only of the plant, in the form of a kind of dust which 

 settles there. 



CHAP. 62. PIPERITIS, LIBA.KOTIS, AND SMTRNITJM. 



To come to a full understanding, too, both here as elsewhere, 

 how unfounded are the notions which are generally entertained, 

 I shall take this opportunity of remarking that panax^ has tlie 

 flavour of pepper, and siliquastrum even more so, a circum- 

 stance to which it owes its name of pipcritis :^^ libanotis,*^ 

 ^again, has just the odour of frankincense, and smyrnium ^^ of 

 myrrh. As to panax, we have spoken of it at suflficient length 

 ah'eady.''- Libanotis grows in a thin, crumbh' soil, and is 

 generally sown in spots exposed to the falling dews ; the root, 

 which is just like that of olusatrum," has a smell in no way 

 differing from that of frankin3erise ; when a year old, it is ex- 

 tremely wholesome for the stomach ; some persons give it the 

 name of rosmarinum.^* Smyrnium is a garden herb that grows 

 in similar soils, and has a root which smells like myrrh : sili- 

 quastrum, too, is grown in a similar manner. 



Other plants, again, differ from the preceding ones, both in 

 smell and taste, anise ^ for example ; indeed, so great is the 

 difference in this respect, and in their relative virtues, that not 

 only are the properties of each modified by the other, but quite 

 neutralized even. It is in this way that our cooks correct 

 the flavour of vinegar in their dishes with parsley, and our 

 butlers employ the same plant, enclosed in sachets, for removing 

 a bad odour in wine. 



" See B. XXV. c. 30. 



*^ Fee remarks, that though rarely to be met ■with, the salt flavour is 

 still to be found in the vegetable kingdom. 



" The " cicercula," or Lathyrus sativus of Linnaeus. See B. xviii. c. 32. 



^'^ See B. xii. c. 57. ^^ Or pepper-wort. See B. xx. c. 66. 



^ See B. XX. c. 54. 



^^ The same, probably, as olusatrum. See cc. 37 and 48 of this Book, 

 and B. xx. c. 46 : also B. xxvii. c. 109. ^- In B. xii. c. 67. 



^2 See c. 48 of this Book. 6* Rosemary, or "sea-dew." 



6^ See B. XX. c. 74. 



