258 



CRUCIFERjE. XCVIII. CRAMBE. 



under frames exactly in the same manner usually adopted for 

 Asparagus. For a common melon-frame will contain as many 

 heads as are capable of being produced in two drills, of twenty 

 yards each, by covering with dung. He finds three frames of 

 two lights each, quite sufficient for a large family ; the first pre- 

 pared about the beginning of November, and the second about 

 the last week in December ; and by the time the second frame 

 is exhausted, Sea-kale will be ready for use in the open ground. 



Gibbs (Caled. hort. mem. 1. p. 388.) also forces in frames, 

 blanching by keeping the beds covered with mats. As the 

 plants are no longer of use after being forced in this and the 

 preceding method, a succession is kept up by annual sowings, 

 and the plants are allowed to attain three years growth before 

 taken up for forcing. Economy and certainty are advantages 

 attending these last methods. 



Balwin (Hort. trans. 4. p. 63.) forces Sea-kale where it stands 

 in the following manner. " On each side of a three foot bed, in 

 which the Sea-kale has been planted, trenches are formed two 

 feet deep, and eighteen inches wide at bottom ; the side of the 

 trench next the bed is perpendicular, the other side is sloped so 

 as to make the top of the trench at the surface level, two feet 

 and a half wide ; this trench is filled with linings of hot dung, 

 on the inner edges of which garden-lights are placed, and the 

 glass kept covered with mats until the kale is fit to cut, and a 

 covering of broad canvass or mats might be substituted for the 

 glass lights." 



Melross (Caled. mem. 4. p. 164.) forces Sea-kale in a 

 vinery. He " plants along the back of the flue where no vine- 

 roots are, places covers on the plants, and in two weeks, when 

 the heat for forcing vines is kept up, he has as fine Sea-kale as 

 could be desired. When a dish is cut, he lifts the roots and 

 supplies their places by others from the open ground." 



Gathering. " Remove a part of the earth, leaves or pots, or 

 whatever is employed in blanching, cut off the heads or shoots, 

 and slip off the stalks of the leaves," (Loud. ency. gard. p. 732.) 



Produce. From four or six heads, according to the size, held 

 together like Asparagus, make a dish ; and Maher says, a 

 blanching pot which contains three plants will afford a dish 

 twice in a season. Hence from sixty to a hundred pots will 

 suffice for forcing Sea-kale for a large family (Loud. 1. c.) 



To save seed. Let a stool, which has not been cut, run in 

 spring ; and seed will be produced in the autumn. 



Common /Sea-kale. Fl. May, June. Britain. PI. 3 feet. 



2 C. PINNATI'FIDA (R. Br. in hort. kew. ed. 2. vol. 4. p. 72.) 

 longer filaments forked ; pods awnless ; leaves profoundly 

 pinnatifid ; lobes oblong, acute, toothed, and are as well as the 

 stem, smooth. If. . H. Native of Hungary in fields about Buda, 

 Tauria, and in deserts adjacent to the north of Caucasus. C. 

 Suecica, Mill. diet. ed. 7. no. 2. C. orientalis, Jacq. icon. rar. 

 1. t. 128. C. laciniata, Desf. hort. par. An intermediate species 

 between C. maritima and C. orientalis. 



Pinnatrfid-\ea\ed Sea-kale. Fl. April, Ju. Clt. 1759. PI. 2ft. 



3 C. GRANDIFLORA (D. C. syst. 2. p. 652.) longer filaments 

 forked ; pods awnless ; leaves pinnate-parted ; lobes oblong, 

 acutely and deeply toothed, intermixed with smaller ones along 

 the raches, and are as well as the stem, smooth. % . H. Native 

 of the island of Tama at the mouth of the Kuban, and on the 

 shores of the Euxine Sea. This species is intermediate between 

 C. pinnatifida and C. dspera. It is only perhaps a variety of C. 

 maritima, but the flowers are 2 or 3 times larger. 



Great-jlowered Sea-kale. Fl. May, June. PI. 3 feet. 



4 C. ORIENTALIS (Lin. spec. 937.) longer filaments forked; 

 pods awnless, smooth ; leaves pinnatifid, toothed, scabrous ; 

 stem smooth. Tf. . H. Native of the Levant. 



Oriental Sea-kale. Fl. June, July. Clt. 1752. PI. 2 foot. 



5 C. TATA'RICA (Jacq. misc. 2. p. 274. icon. rar. 1. t. 129. 



exclusive of synonym of Clusius,) longer filaments forked ; 

 pods awnless ; radical leaves decompound ; leaflets cut, toothed, 

 younger leaves rough, adult ones smooth as well as the stem. 

 If. . H. Root fusiform, 2 or 3 feet long. 



Var. a, Hungarica (D. C. syst. 2. p. 653.) lobes of cauline 

 leaves oblong-linear, almost entire and somewhat pectinated. 

 % . H. Native of gravelly places and fertile fields in Hungary 

 about Agria and elsewhere ; in Moravia about Aussitz ; in Tran- 

 sylvania in calcareous meadows and on sandy mountains. C. Ta- 

 tarica, Jacq. misc. 2. p. 274. Willd. spec. 3. p. 419. This 

 plant is called in Hungary Tatar-kenyer or Tartarian-bread, and 

 its root, stripped of the bark and sliced, is eaten with oil, vine- 

 gar, and salt. The boiled root is sweet, and eaten by children. 

 The young shoots are boiled and eaten like those of common 

 Sea-kale, and have an excellent taste, but are stringy, which 

 they would not be if well cultivated, which the plant appears to 

 deserve. Hares are extremely fond of the root and stems. 



Var. ft, Taurica (D. C. syst. 2. p. 653.) lobes of leaves si- 

 nuately-lobed. y.. H. C. orientalis, Reich, syst. 3. p. 290. 

 Falk. itin. p. 219. no. 791. t. 14. C. Tatarica, Bieb. fl. taur. 2. 

 p. 90. Native of Tauria in fields, and adjacent to the northern 

 regions of Caucasus at the Tanais, and from Borysthene to the 

 Rhymnus. Roots fusiform, 2 or 4 feet long. 



Tartarian Sea-kale. Fl. June, July, in gardens ; April, May, 

 in its native countries. Clt. 1789. PI. 2 to 3 feet. 



6 C. A'SPERA (Bieb. fl. taur. 2. p. 90.) longer filaments 

 forked ; pods awnless, wrinkled ; leaves pinnate-parted, with ob- 

 long-linear, toothed lobes, and are scabrous as well as the stem. 

 I/ . H. Native of fields in Tauria at the lower Wolga, and near 

 Sarepta. The whole plant is usually rough from stiff" erect 

 hairs. Deless. icon. sel. 2. t. 91. 



Rough Sea-kale. Fl. May, June. Clt. 1820. PI. 1 foot. 



7 C. JU'NCEA (Bieb. suppl. ined. D. C. syst. 2. p. 654.) 

 longer filaments forked ; pods awnless, smootli ; leaves lyrate, 

 with toothed lobes, terminal lobe large ; leaf stalked and stem 

 hispid from reflexed hairs. 7^. H. Native of Iberia about 

 Tiflis. Pods small, globose, smooth, and seated upon slender 

 pedicels. 



Rushy Sea-kale. Fl. May, June. Clt. 1820. PI. 2 feet. 



8 C. CORDIFOLIA (Stev. in mem. soc. nat. mosc. 3. p. 267.) 

 longer stamens forked ; pods almost awnless ; leaves stalked, 

 toothed, lower ones cordate, upper ones ovate, and are as well 

 as the stems almost glabrous. If. . H. Native of North Cau- 

 casus in deserts, and in exposed places about the towns of Mos- 

 dock and Georgisock. C. cordata, Willd. enum. suppl. 43. 

 Panicles of flowers leafless, smooth, much branched. Flowers 

 like those of C. orientalis. The root of this plant tastes like 

 Horse-radish. Lower leaves very large and hispid. 



Cordate-leaved Sea-kale. Fl. June. Clt. 1800. PL 6 feet. 



SECT. II. LEPTOCRA'MBE (from \tirroe, leptos, slender, and 

 Kpapflri, krambe, Sea-kale ; because of the plants contained in 

 this section being slender.) D. C. syst. 2. p. 655. prod. 1. p. 

 226. Lower joint of silicle cylindrical, elongated. Stigma 

 sessile. Filaments either toothed or toothless. Roots annual or 

 biennial. Stem solitary. 



9 C. HISPA'NICA (Lin. spec. 937.) longer filaments furnished 

 with a tooth ; pods awnless ; leaves lyrate, scabrous, with the 

 terminal lobe cordate and orbicular. Q. H. Native of Spain 

 in Valentia on the sea-shore, also in the north of Portugal. Sab. 

 hort. rom. 4. t. 2. Lam. ill. t. 553. Gaert. fruct. 2. p. 292. t. 

 142. f. 4. Schkuhr. handb. 2. no. 1924. t. 189. Myagrum 

 sphaerocarpum, Jacq. obs. 2. p. 20. t. 41. Rapistrum Hispani- 

 cum, Medik. in Ust. new. ann. 2. p. 37. Rapistrum scabrum, 

 Moench. meth. 211. Pods exactly globose. Herb hispid. 



Spanish Sea-kale. Fl. June, July Clt. 1683. PI. 1J foot. 



