UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE 47 



seasoning plant, it is often sown among pasture grasses, to prevent maladies 

 incidental to sheep. Some years since it was extensively planted in fields in 

 Hampshire, for this purpose, with success ; and Mortimer, in his work on 

 " Husbandry," mentions the cultivation of this plant in Buckinghamshire, 

 as a preventive to disease in these animals. It is said, when eaten by 

 sheep, to impart an agreeable flavour to their flesh. Hares and rabbits 

 are very fond of its foliage, and will be attracted from a great distance 

 by a large quantity of Parsley. In places where these animals are 

 numerous it is almost impossible to preserve the herb from their depre- 

 dations. In our country the dift'erent varieties of Parsley are used very 

 generally for flavouring dishes, and it has been suggested that the curled 

 variety only should be sown in gardens, because the ordinary form of the 

 plant is so similar to that dangerous weed, the Fool's Parsley (JEthusa 

 ajndpium), that mistakes have been made between the two plants, and 

 melancholy consequences have ensued. This noxious plant often infests 

 gardens, and, when growing with the cultivated herb, a careless person 

 might gather the one for the other. The leaves, however, are diff"erently 

 formed, and of darker, duller green hue ; and if bruised they emit an 

 odour very different from that of the Parsley. When in flower the plants 

 are easily distinguished, the Fool's Parsley having an involucre of three 

 long, narrow, sharp-pointed leaflets, hanging down on one side, under each 

 partial umbel ; while in the Common Parsley, there is usually only one leaflet 

 in the general umbel, and in the partial umbel the few leaflets are as fine as 

 hairs. Professor Burnett remarks, " Parsley affords one, among many proofs, of 

 the impossibility of dividing esculent from poisonous plants, for although 

 eatable and innocuous to man, it is said to be a deadly poison to parrots." 



The old herbalists regarded this plant as a valualile remedy against 

 several diseases, and said that its seed was " effectual against the venom of 

 any poisonous creature, and the danger that cometh to them that have the 

 lethargy." The time of its introduction into England is uncertain. It has 

 been said to have been brought into this country about the middle of the six- 

 teenth century, from Sardinia, where it is wild. It received from Dioscorides 

 its name of Petroselinum, and the plant was given to him who overcame in 

 the Grrecian games. "Sometimes," says an old writei', "Victours had' 

 garlondes of it, as Isodore saith Hercules made him fyrste garlondes of this 

 hearbe." Another old author speaks of one in his day, who "would in a 

 braverie wear Parsley in his hat." The French call the plant Le Persil ; it 

 is Die PeiersiUe of the Germans ; and the Prfroselino of the Italians. 



An anecdote related some years since shows a use for which Parsley-seed 

 was employed during the Middle Ages. It was customary in those times to 

 flavour cheese with various herbs, as thyme and fennel. It is said of 

 Charlemagne, that travelling once Avithout any retinue, he arrived at a 

 Bishop's palace on a fast day. The Bishop had no fare fitted to regale a 

 monarch, but placed before him some bread and some choice cheese. The 

 King did not appear to relish the appearance of the cheese, and from time to 

 time picked out, with his knife, several small specks which he supposed to be 

 defects in the food, but which were in fact the seeds of Parsley, which had 

 been placed in the cheese to give it flavour. The Bishop ventured to hint 



