EUCALYPTUS TRAE! 409 
like dandelion. Long boiling destroys its medicinal 
value. Some other kinds of scorzonera May perhaps 
be drawn into similar use, there being many Asiatic 
species. 
Scorzonera tuberosa, Pallas.—At the Volga and in 
Syria. Also this species yields an edible root, and so 
perhaps the Chinese S. albicaulis, Bunge, the Persian 
Se. Scowitzii, Cand., the North African Se. undulata, 
Vahil., the Greek Se. ramosa, Sibth., the Russian Se. 
Astrachanica, Cand., the Turkish Sc. semicana, Cand., 
the Iberian Se. lanata, Bieberst. At all events, care- 
ful culture may render them valuable esculents. 
Sebeea ovata, R. Brown—Extra-tropic Australia and 
New Zealand. This neat little annual herb can be 
utilized for its bitter tonic principle (gentian - bitter). 
S. albidiflora, F. v. M., is an allied species from some- 
what saline ground. These plants disseminate them- 
selves most readily. 
Secale cereale, L.*—The Rye. Orient, but perhaps 
‘wild only in the country between the Caspian and 
Black seas. Mentioned here as the hardiest of all 
the grain-plants for our highest alpine regions. There 
are annual and biennial varieties, while a few allied 
species, hitherto not generally used for fodder or 
cereal culture, are perennial. The rye, though not so 
nutritious as wheat, furnishes a most wholesome, well- 
flavored bread, which keeps for many days, and is 
most extensively used in Middle and North Europe 
and Asia. This grain, moreover, can be reared in 
poor soil and cold climates, where wheat will no longer 
thrive. In produce of grain rye is not inferior to 
wheat in colder countries, while the yield of straw is 
larger, and the culture less exhaustive. It is a hardy 
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