WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD. 



191 



Rampion Campanula rapunculus. 



These native plants were probably little used with- 

 out cultivation at any time. But the Laplander is 

 constrained to have recourse to many plants which 

 the inhabitant of more temperate climes rejects as un- 

 worthy of notice. Among these is the COW-THISTLE 

 (Sonchus a/pmws), which grows spontaneously in 

 Northumberland. It is known in Lapland by the 

 name of Terja, and grows among trees at the sides 

 of mountains, and flowers at the end of July. The 

 stem, which is milky, is peeled and eaten raw by 

 the Laplanders. The taste is extremely bitter, but 

 the people of the country have become so accus- 

 tomed to this quality, that they are not aware of it, 

 although some of them acknowledged to Linnaeus 



