308 SALAD PLANTS. 



BURNET. 

 Poterium sanguisorba. 



Burnet is a hardy, perennial plant, indigenous to England, 

 where it is found on dry, upland, chalky soils. When fully 

 developed, it is from a foot and a half to two feet in height. 

 The leaves proceeding directly from the root are produced 

 on long stems, and are composed of from eleven to fifteen 

 smaller leaves, which are of an oval form, regularly toothed, 

 and generally, but not uniformly, smooth. The branches, 

 which are somewhat numerous, terminate in long, slender 

 stems, each of which produces an oval or roundish bunch of 

 purplish-red, fertile and infertile flowers. The fertile flowers 

 produce two seeds each, which ripen in August or Septem- 

 ber. These are oblong, four-sided, of a yellowish color, and 

 retain their vitality two years. Thirty-five hundred are con- 

 tained in an ounce. 



Solving and Culture. The plant is easily propagated by 

 seeds, which may be sown either in autumn or spring. Sow 

 in drills ten inches apart, half or three fourths of an inch 

 deep, and thin, while the plants are young, to six or eight 

 inches in the row. If the seeds are allowed to scatter from 

 the plants in autumn, young seedlings will come up plenti- 

 fully in the following spring, and may be transplanted to the 

 distances before directed. In dry soil the plants will con- 

 tinue for many years, requiring no further care than to be 

 occasionally hoed, and kept free from weeds. It may also 

 be propagated by dividing the roots. 



Use. The leaves have a warm, piquant taste, and when 

 bruised resemble cucumbers in odor. They are sometimes 

 used as salad, and occasionally form an ingredient in soups. 

 The roots, after being dried and pulverized, are employed in 

 cases of internal hemorrhage. 



It is little used in this country, and rarely seen in gardens. 



