108 POLYGONE^ 



it an indigenous plant. As its familiar name would indicate, it was cultivated 

 in the physic-garden of the monastery, and it is near the remains of those 

 old buildings that it is now chiefly to be found naturalized. Its root was 

 formerly employed medicinally instead of the true rhubarb, and its properties 

 are similar to those of that root, but are less powerful. It has large leaves, 

 sometimes half a foot broad, very blunt, wrinkled, and netted with veins ; 

 and its crowded leafless Avhorls of reddish flowers appear in July. 



Other species of dock share in the medicinal qualities of the Monk's 

 Rhubarb, but none of the species seems to possess very active properties. 

 The celebrated Patience Dock of the monastery garden was a native of Italy, 

 and it has been remarked that it apparently received its name from some 

 wittv person who had observed how long a time it was ere it cured the malady 

 for which it was prescribed. And, indeed, patience seems to have been a 

 virtue particularly necessary, both to the sufl"erer and the physician, in the 

 days when vegetable decoctions and compounds were the only medicines 

 employed. 



6. Bloody-veined and Green-veined Dock (B. sanguineus). — 

 Enlarged sepals narrowly oblong, blunt, entire, one at least bearing a 

 tubercle ; leaves egg-shaped and lanceolate, lower ones somewhat heart- 

 shaped ; whorls distant, on long leafless branches ; perennial. In one 

 variety of this plant the leaves are veined with bright red, but this is rare .; 

 in the more common form the leaves have green veins. The latter plant is 

 not unfrequent in woods or beneath the shadow of trees, in the meadow, or 

 on the hedge-bank, and by the road-side. This and some other species were 

 formerly cultivated in this country for food. In France they are still 

 dressed as spinach, and when mixed with sorrel the leaves form a very 

 pleasant dish. One of our old writers remarks, " All Docks being l^oiled with 

 meat make it boil the sooner ;" and he adds of this species, wliich he calls 

 Blood-wort, that it is " exceeding strengthening to the liver, and procures 

 good blood, being as wholesome a pot-herb as any grows in a garden ; yet 

 such is the nicety of our times (forsooth) that women will not put it into a 

 pot, because it makes the pottage black : pride and ignorance (a couple of 

 monsters in the creation) preferring nicety before health !" 



7. Sharp Dock (B. conglomerdtus). — Enlarged sepals linear-oblong, 

 blunt, entire, or obscurely toothed at the base, each having a large tubercle ; 

 leaves oblong, pointed, lower ones heart-shaped or rounded at the base ; 

 Avhorls distant, leafy ; perennial. This plant is very similar to the green- 

 leaved variety of the last species, diflering chiefly in its leafy whorls, and in 

 having a longer tubercle on each of its enlarged sepals. It has spreading 

 branches, and bears its reddish-green flowers from June to August, growing 

 commonly in wet marshy lands. The root is used by dyers, and gives 

 a great vai'iety of tints, from a delicate straAV-colour to a fine olive ; while to 

 cloth previously dipped in blue dye, it imparts a rich green. 



8. Fiddle Dock (B. pulcher). — Enlarged sepals oval-wedge-shaped, netted 

 with raised veins, deeply toothed at the base, one principally tubercled ; 

 liranches spreading; whorls mostly leafy; lower leaves fiddle-shaped or 

 oblong, and heart-shaped, l^lunt ; upper ones lanceolate, acute ; stem 

 spreading; perennial. This is a species with straggling prostrate stems, 



