CRUCIFEROUS TRIBE 65 



juice is acrid, though less so than that of some other species, which will 

 raise blisters on the skin. 



2. Garlic Treacle-mustard, Jack-by-the-Hedge, or Sauce- 

 alone (E. aUidria). — Leaves broadly heart-shaped, large, strongly veined, 

 and stalked, with numerous broad teeth ; pods erect, on spreading" stalks. 

 Plant annual. Most persons who are accustomed during April and May to 

 hunt the hedge-row for the hidden violet, have met with this Garlic Treacle- 

 mustard. It is well if, at some time or other, the spring nosegay has not 

 been spoiled by its offensive odour, for the garlic-like scent not being 

 perceptible till the plant is bruised, may not have been discovered till too 

 late. If crushed, however, its scent is most disagreeable, and as powerful as 

 the strongest garlic. The flowers grow in clusters, and are of pure white, 

 and the stem is about a foot or more high. Its name of Sauce-alone was 

 given from its uses, and to some who cannot afford more costly condiments, 

 it is serviceable in adding flavour to the frugal diet. It is often the 

 labourer's " sauce," and is eaten with their rustic dinner by some of those who, 

 as Wordsworth reminds us— 



"The poor men's children, they, and they aloue, 

 By their condition taught, can understand 

 The wisdom of that prayer that daily asks 

 For daily bread." 



Sometimes this Hedge Garlic is used as a salad herb with lettuce ; and 

 Neill says that it makes an excellent vegetable when boiled and eaten with 

 mutton, or salted meat. The author has often eaten it thus during child- 

 hood, as well as when cut up into small pieces ; and, mixed with vinegar, it 

 has been served up like mint sauce. Linnaeus ascertained by his experiments 

 that cows, sheep, and poultry feed on it, but that it is refused by horses and 

 goats. It is not a desirable herb, however, on the pasture, as it gives a 

 strong flavour of garlic to the milk of the cow, and the flesh of the fowl. It 

 was very much prized in the olden times for its medicinal virtues, its seeds 

 being thought useful in several maladies ; while even in the present day the 

 leaves are commonly used in villages as an external application for sore 

 throat, and also for wounds. A species of Erysimum was prized by the 

 ancients, but this appears to have been our garden cress, Lepidium sativum ; 

 for Pliny tells us that the Gauls called his Erysimum velar, and this cress is 

 still called vilhar in the Basque tongue, and heler, or veler, in some provinces 

 of France. Our Jack-by-the-Hedge grows in hedges and ditches throughout 

 Europe. The Germans call it by several names, as Knoblauchkraut, Knoblamhs- 

 hederich, Levdiel, Waldknohlauch, Rampen, Bamschehvurz, Germsel, Sahkrauf, 

 Sasskraut. In France it is termed L'Alliaire, and L'herbe aux Aillets. The 

 Dutch call it Steenraket, the Italians Erisamo, and the Spaniards Jaramago. 

 This plant is by many botanists made a distinct genus, under the name of 

 Alliaria. 



3. Hare's-ear Treacle-mustard {E. orientdle). — Leaves elliptical, 

 heart-shaped, obtuse, clasping the stem ; root-leaves inversely egg-shaped ; 

 all smooth and undivided. Plant annual. This species, which is about a 

 foot high, is not British, yet is found as a casual on cliffs, or in fields. It 

 occurs in some parts of Ireland, and in various places on the coasts of Essex, 



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