SAUCE ALONE 137 



It is a sand-loving plant, and requires a dry sand soil or sandy 

 loam, derived from older sandy rocks, grits, and sandstones. 



It is galled by Cecidomyia sisymbrii. A beetle, Ceuthorkynckus 

 assimilis, visits it, also the beetles Phyllotreta nemorum, P. ochripes, 

 Poophagus nasturtii, P. sisymbrii. 



Theophrastus gave the name Sisymbrium, which was the Greek 

 name of a water-mint, and officinale means medicinal. 



The plant is called Bank Cress, Hedge Mustard, Hedgeweed, 

 Lucifer Matches, Crambling Rocket, Sauce Alone. 



Hedge Mustard was eaten as a relish with salt fish, hence the last 

 name, and was used in sauce. It was held to be diuretic, expectorant, 

 and was regarded as a remedy for asthma, hoarseness, and chronic 

 coughs. This plant has a somewhat saline taste. The seeds are 

 pungent, but not so strong as mustard. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



31. Sisymbrium officinale, Scop. Stem erect, branched, divaricate, 

 leaves at base runcinate, points recurved, terminal lobe hastate, upper 

 linear or absent, flowers small, yellow, pods appressed on short 

 pedicels, downy, subulate. 



Sauce Alone (Sisymbrium Alliaria, Scop.) 



There are no deposits from which this is known in a fossil state in 

 the British Isles. It is a plant which is found in the Temperate Zone 

 in Europe, North Africa, Temperate West Asia, as far as the Hima- 

 layas. In Great Britain it is found everywhere except in Cardigan, 

 Flint, S. Lines, Stirling, Mid Perth, Main Argyle, Cantire, S. Ebudes, 

 Mid and N. Ebudes, Sutherland, Caithness, and the Northern Isles. 

 From the Grampians it ranges southwards, up to a height of 1000 ft. 

 in England, but it is less common in Scotland and Ireland. 



Garlic Mustard grows with Hedge Mustard along the wayside and 

 beneath the hedge, or it may line the ditch which flanks the highway. 

 Once used as a garnishing it may to some extent owe its frequency 

 around a village, or its occurrence on highways, to this cause. A 

 rather moist habitat suits it best, though it will grow on a high bank 

 where there is shade enough to maintain a fair supply of moisture 

 continuously. It manages to win its way to the front in spring to the 

 exclusion of all else, but may be seen with the Greater Stitchwort, Reel 

 Campion, Lords-and- Ladies, &c. 



Jack-by- the-hedge is a tall, handsome plant, with an erect habit, 

 and numerous heart-shaped, toothed leaves alternately arranged, the 



