Book I. 



ALISANDER, BLADDER-CAMPION, THISTLE. 



653 



Sursect. 7. Alisaiukr, or Alexanders. (Jig. 469.) — Smyrnium Olusalrum, L. (Eng. 

 Bot. 230. ) Pent. Dig. L. and UmbelliferecE, J. Maceron, Fr. ; Smyrnerkrant, 

 Ger. ; and Macerone, Ital. 



3948. The alisander is a biennial plant, rising about 

 two feet high, and flowering in May and June ; the 

 leaves are of a pale-green color, and the flowers 

 yellowish. It grows naturally near the sea in several 

 places, and may often be observed naturalised near old 

 buildings. 



3949. Use. It was formerly much cultivated, its 

 leaf-stalks having been used when blanched, as a pot- 

 herb and salad. It somewhat resembles the celery in 

 flavor, by which vegetable it has been almost entirely 

 supplanted. Some consider the leaves and stalks of 

 the S. perforatum, a native of Italy, as preferable to 

 those of this plant. 



3950. Culture. " Where the plants are in demand, sow a pro- 

 portionate crop at the close of March, in the course of April, 

 or beginning of May : either broad-cast, raking in the seed ; 

 the plants, when between three and six inches high, to be trans- 

 planted into drills, eighteen inches or two feet asunder, by five 

 or six inches apart in each row ; or sow at once in drills that 

 distance, to remain, thinning out the superfluous plants in proper time. The seed is sold by weight, and 

 if sown to transplant, for a bed three feet and a half wide by six feet in length (21 superficial feet), 

 half an ounce will suffice ; if sown to remain, then for a bed four feet by twenty-four, containing two 

 drills, two feet apart, or for forty-eight feet in length of drilling, then one ounce will be requisite. 

 When the plants are well advanced in growth, earth them up several inches on each side the rows, 

 to blanch the lower parts white, for use in summer, autumn, &c. You may likewise sow a moderate por- 

 tion in August, to stand over the winter for a supply in spring and the early part of the summer, till the 

 spring-sown plants come in." 



3951. To save seed. The alisander produces nothing fit for the table after the second year ; and as it 

 ripens plenty of seed in autumn, it is proper to save some every year for sowing as above. (Abercrombie.) 



Subsect. 8. Bladder- Campion. — Silene inflata, H. K. (Eng. Bot. t. 164.); Cucubalus 

 behen, L. Dec. Trig. L. and Caryophyllece, J. 



3952. The bladder-campion is a perennial, growing naturally by the sides of corn- 

 fields and pastures ; and also on the sea-shore. The stems are smooth and erect, rising 

 from a foot to eighteen inches high. The leaves are smooth, glaucous, and the flowers in 

 nodding panicles. 



3953. Use. Our kitchen-gardens, Bryant observes, scarcely afford a better-flavored 



vegetable than the young shoots of this plant when boiled. They ought to be gathered 



when not above two inches long. The sprouts are to be nipped off when of a proper 



size, and the plants will produce a succession of fresh ones for at least two months. 



3954. Culture. A similar culture to that given to the asparagus, or sea-kale, would answer, and probably 

 h ighly improve this plant. Bryant says, its culture would well reward the gardener's trouble. Seeds may ei th er 

 be procured from wild plants, or the roots, which run very deep, may be transplanted into deep light soil. 



Sibsect. 9. Thistle. — Carduus and Onopordium, L. ; and Cynaroceplialce, J. 



3955. There are two sorts of thistle, which are, or were formerly, used as asparaginous 

 plants, viz. the milk-thistle, and cotton-thistle. 



3956. The milk-thistle, or our lady's thistle, is the Carduus Marianus, L. (Eng. Bot. 

 t. 976.) It is a biennial plant, a native of Britain, and found in church-yards and 

 near ruined buildings. The plant rises from four to six feet high, furnished with large 

 leaves, covered with an irregular network of beautiful milky veins. 



3957. Use. When very young, the leaves are used as a spring salad ; and blanched, are 

 used in winter salads; stripped of their spines, they are sometimes boiled and used as greens ; 

 and the young stalks peeled, and soaked in water to extract a part of their bitterness, 

 are said to be excellent. Early in the spring of the second year, the root is prepared like 

 salsify or skirret ; the receptacle of the flower is pulpy, and eats like that of the artichoke. 



3958. Culture. The seeds are sown in a good dry soil, early in February ; and when the plants come up, 

 they are thinned out to one foot and a half distance from one another. The intervals are to be kept free 

 of weeds, and stirred occasionally during the summer ; and in autumn the leaves are to be tied up like 

 those of endive, and the earth drawn round to blanch them. The blanched herb being cut off for use 

 during winter, the roots remain to be used in spring. 



3959. To save seed. Leave one or two plants untied up the first season, and in the second they will 

 produce flowers in July, and seed in August. 



3960. The cotton-thistle is the Onopordium acanthium, L. (Eng. Bot. t. 977.) It is a 

 biennial plant, indigenous in various parts of Britain, and remarkable for its large downy 

 leaves and lofty stem, often rising ten feet high, and covering a circle of six or eight feet 

 diameter. 



3961. Use. It was formerly used like the artichoke and cardoon ; the receptacle and 

 the tender blanched stalks, peeled and boiled, being the parts used. 



3962. Culture. The same as the Cardoon. See Subsect. 4. 



