WILD PLANTS USED AS POOD. 185 



ciferce, grow spontaneously in every field. The 

 WILD CABBAGE, or Brassica campcstms, has been 

 found in many countries ; in France, by Bouchet 

 and De Candolle ; in Modern Greece, by Sibthorp : 

 and it may be the same that is mentioned by Dios- 

 corides. It grows naturally on the sea-shore near 

 Dover. The leaves of this plant are used early in 

 the spring as an edible ; and it is said that they are 

 superior in flavour to those of the cultivated sorts ; 

 but as it is found chiefly in situations neat the sea, 

 where there is salt in the soil or in the atmosphere, 

 the leaves acquire a saline, bitter taste ; this is, 

 however, removed after they have been boiled in 

 two waters. As the wild plants advance towards 

 maturity, the purple, of which there is merely a trace 

 in the young leaves, disperses, and the plants become 

 harsh, bitter, and unfit for use. An accumulation of 

 a larger portion of alkaline matter may be inferred 

 from this fact, consequent on the well-known effect of 

 alkali changing blue to green. A correspondent 

 of a valuable horticultural work describes the young 

 tops of the wild cabbage of Dover as a most delicate 

 vegetable ; but he complains that the plant is held 

 in low estimation by the inhabitants of the place.* 

 Doubtless they would find it cheaper to cultivate 

 cabbages than to gather them on cliffs. Various 

 spinaceous plants also grow wild in this country ; 

 but they will not repay the labour of gathering. 

 Nothing is so common as SORREL, but no one here 

 thinks the plant worth collecting. On the contrary, 

 the Laplanders prepare these leaves, and preserve 

 them for winter store. For this purpose they are 

 boiled in a very small quantity of water, and stirred 

 till reduced to a pulp. This is then mixed with milk, 

 and put in barrels, which are kept in holes dug in 

 the ground, and lined either with bricks or birch- 



* London's Gardiner's Magazine, February 1832. 

 VOL. xv. 16* 



