SCOLYMUS. 87 



The roots are sometimes thinly sliced, and, with the addi- 

 tion of vinegar, salt, and pepper, served as a salad. They 

 are also recommended as being remedial or alleviating in 

 cases of consumptive tendency. 



There is but one species or variety now cultivated. 



SCOLYMUS. 



Spanish Scolymus. Spanish Oyster-plant. Scolymus Hispanicus. 



In its natural state this is a perennial plant ; but when 

 cultivated it is generally treated as an annual or as a bien- 

 nial. The roots are nearly white, fleshy, long, and tapering 

 in their general form, and, if well grown, measure twelve or 

 fifteen inches in length, and an inch in diameter at the crown. 

 When cut or bruised, or where the fibrous roots are broken 

 or rubbed off, there exudes a thick, somewhat viscous fluid, 

 nearly flavorless, and of a milk-white color. The leaf is 

 large, often measuring a foot or more in length, and three 

 inches in diameter, somewhat variegated with green and 

 white, deeply lobed ; the lobes or divisions toothed, and the 

 teeth terminating in sharp spines, in the manner of the 

 leaves of many species of thistles. When in flower the 

 plant is about three feet in height. The flowers, which are 

 put forth singly, are of an orange-yellow, and measure an 

 inch and a half in diameter. The seeds are flat, and very 

 thin, membranous on the borders, of a yellowish color, and 

 retain their vitality three years. An ounce contains nearly 

 four thousand seeds. 



Soil and Cultivation. Any good garden loam is adapted 

 to the growth of the Scolymus. It should be well and 

 deeply stirred as for other deep-growing root crops. The 

 seeds should be sown from the middle of April to the 10th 

 of May, in drills an inch deep, and fourteen inches asunder. 



