PERSIC AEIA TRIBE 111 



apples, were much used in making verjuice ; for the cook in the olden times 

 used verjuice in the preparation of ruimerous dishes. The milkmaid in 

 Isaac Walton's "Angler" tells her guests, "If you come this way a-fishing 

 two months hence, a grace of God, I'll give you a syllabub of new verjuice 

 in a new made haycock ; and my Maudlin shall sing you one of her best 

 ballads." Then, too, the juice of the Sorrel was often expressed and used 

 medicinally, and doubtless would prove a good fever drink. It is recom- 

 mended by all the old herbalists in " hot diseases," and deemed efficacious 

 also in agues, jaundice, and pestilential maladies, as well as to quench thirst 

 and renew appetite in weak digestions. It is decidedly antiscorbutic in its 

 properties. It grows in the Arctic regions; and Dr. Sutherland, in his 

 Journal of a Voyage to Baffin's Bay in the years 1850 and 1851, men- 

 tions the growth of this Sorrel on the cold shores which they had to 

 reach by walking over the ice. As the voyagers approached the beach, they 

 delighted in the beautiful yellow poppies which grew among its stones, 

 throwing a charm over the spot. " If the traveller," says Dr. Sutherland, 

 "wished to amuse his palate, he might feed ad lihitum upon the leaves of 

 cruciferous plants in full bloom, on Sorrel and scurvy -grass. Of these plants, 

 especially the former, I believe persons labouring under scorbutus ought to 

 obtain a sufficient quantity to effect a beneficial change in the disease. It 

 often occurred to me that the resources of the climate, in the way of plants, 

 might be made available to prevent scurvy. Although a basketful could not 

 be obtained in one or even two hours by one person, handfuls could ; and 

 this operation extended over several hours, by an increased number of men, 

 might go far to appease the insatiable craving for vegetable food." In some 

 parts of Sweden, where barley and rye can scarcely be raised, the poor are 

 often kept from starvation by eating bark-bread, and a bread which they 

 described to Dr. E. D. Clarke as made of grass. This traveller found on 

 examination that this grass was our Common Sorrel, and adds, that the 

 bread made from it was far more salutary than that made from the fir-bark. 

 The root of this Sorrel yields a good red dye. 



The French Garden Sorrel {R. scutatus) has been found in waste places 

 near Edinburgh, and elsewhere, but is merely an escape from gardens, and 

 cannot be considered as naturalized in this kingdom. 



13. Sheep's Sorrel (E. acetosMa). — Sepals ascending, inner ones 

 scarcely enlarged, egg-shaped, without tubercles; lower leaves lanceolate 

 and halberd-shaped, with entire lobes ; perennial. This little Sorrel grows 

 commonly on dry heaths and downs. It is always a smaller and more 

 slender plant than the last species, and is rarely a foot high. It is, however, 

 very variable both in size and in the form of its leaves. On some plants, 

 the root-leaves alone are halberd-shaped, on others the stem-leaves also are 

 of this form ; the other leaves are stalked and lanceolate. It bears its small 

 red flowers from May to August, and in autumn its foliage is much tinged 

 with red. Wherever this Sorrel is abundant, it indicates a dry, barren soil. 



3. Mountain Sorrel {Oxtjria). 

 Kidney-shaped Mountain Sorrel {0. renifvrmis). — Stems naked, or 

 with one leaf ; root-leaves kidney-shaped ; perennial. This is truly a 



