248 LILIACE^ 



It has the strong odour of Garlic, an odour shared by all the Allium genus, 

 and which is subdued by cooking. These plants are much less acrid when 

 grown in warmer climates. 



Garlic and Onions of various kinds were planted in the gardens of the 

 monasteries in this country ; and the man described by Chaucer Avould not, 

 in his days, have been hai-d to find— 



" Well loved he Garlike, Onions, and Leekes." 



Fuller, referring to Garlic, says : " Not to speak of the murmuring 

 Israelites, who prized it even before manna itself, some avow it soveraigne 

 for men and beasts in most maladies, though the scent thereof be somewhat 

 valiant and offensive. Indeed, a large book is written on its virtues, which, 

 if held proportionate with truth, one Avould wonder any man should die 

 Avho hath Garlic growing in his garden." It was greatly commended by the 

 old writers as a cure for ague ; and it is still in Kent, and probably in other 

 counties, placed in the stocking of the child afflicted with whooping-cough, in 

 order to allay this malady. 



The worth attached to the Garlic and Onion tribe by the ancient Egyptians, 

 often elicited the sarcasms of the writers of other nations. They are said 

 to have sworn l)y the Onion, Leek, and Garlic, and even to have adored some 

 of these plants. Juvenal, the Roman satirist, says : — ■ 



" How E^ypt, mad with superstition grown. 

 Makes gods of monsters, but too well is known : 

 'Tis mortal sin an onion to devour ; 

 Each clove of garlic hatli a sacred power — 

 Religious nation sure, and blest abodes, 

 Where every garden is o'errun witli gods !" 



But if some abstained from Onions, it is certain that the multitude ate 

 them ; and the whole tribe of these plants are yet much prized in Egypt as 

 food. 



2. Babington's Great Round-headed Garlic (A. babinghinii). — 

 Umbels loose and irregular ; 3 alternate stamens 3-cleft ; stem leafy below ; 

 leaves linear, acutely keeled. This is a tall variety or sub-species of 

 A. awpcloprasum., having a stem from four to six feet in height, and very 

 long and rather broad leaves. The pale reddish flowers, with a green keel 

 on their outer segments, expand in August, and the bulbils among them are 

 numerous, and as large as cherries. It is a very rare plant, and is found in 

 some places in Cornwall, and in Great Arran Island, Galway. 



3. Sand Garlic (A. scoroddprasum). — Umbel loose and globose, with 

 numerous small bulbils ; stem leafy below ; leaves linear, flat, keeled ; stamens 

 included, 3 alternate ones 3-cleft ; bulb egg-shaped, with stalked bulbils at its 

 base. This species is not frequent, occurring only in the woods and fields of 

 some hilly and mountainous districts in the north of England. Its stem is 

 two or three feet high, rounded and firm, and the flowers are deep red, 

 intermixed with dark purple bulbils, which are more numerous than the 

 flowers ; the spathe is short and broad, with a sharp point. 



4. Streaked Field Garlic (*S^. olerdceum). — Umbel loose, bearing bulbils, 

 leaves semi- cylindrical, channelled above, ribbed beneath ; stamens simple, 



