400 OLERACEOUS PLANTS. 



leaves are in perfection in the ensuing autumn, winter, and 

 spring, and the plants blossom, and produce their seeds, in 

 the following summer. 



Use. The leaves are used for flavoring soups, to which 

 they impart a strong, peculiar flavor, agreeable to some, but 

 unpleasant to most persons. It has some of the properties 

 of Common Sage, and is occasionally used as a substitute. 



The plant is seldom employed in American cookery, and 

 is little cultivated. 



CORIANDER. Law. 

 Coriandrum sativum. 



A hardy annual, supposed to have been introduced from 

 the south of Europe, but now naturalized in almost all tem- 

 perate climates where it has once been cultivated. 



Stem about two feet in height, generally erect, but, as the 

 seeds approach maturity, often acquiring a drooping habit ; 

 stem-leaves more finely cut or divided than those proceeding 

 directly from the root, and all possessed of a strong and 

 somewhat disagreeable odor. The generic name is derived 

 from Koris (a bug), with reference to the peculiar smell of 

 its foliage. Flowers white, produced on the top of the plant, 

 at the extremities of the branches, in flat, spreading umbels, 

 or bunches ; seeds globular, about an eighth of an inch in 

 diameter, of a yellowish-brown color, with a warm, pleasant, 

 aromatic taste : they become quite light and hollow by age, 

 and are often affected by insects in the manner of seed-peas. 

 Though they will sometimes vegetate when kept for a longer 

 period, they are not considered good when more than two 

 years old. 



Propagation and Cultivation. Like all annuals, it is propa- 

 gated from seed, which should be sown in April or May, in 

 good, rich, mellow soil, well pulverized. Sow in drills made 



