WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD. 183 



eaten ; but they all offer a very slight addition to the 

 food of man, and show in a marked manner the dif- 

 ference in the useful powers of a cultivated and an 

 uncultivated soil. 



Flower and Root of the Wild Parsnip. 



WHITE-BEET is found wild on the salt, marshy 

 shores of Holland, and on some parts of those of 

 England ; but the root is hard, bitter, and worthless. 



SALSIFY, in the same manner, which was once 

 much used here as an esculent, and is still com- 



