270 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



different vegetables consumed by the monks on fast- 

 days : at that time it was written s-pinargium or spi- 

 nachium; This plant found a place among culinary 

 vegetables at rather an early period in England, for 

 Turner, who wrote in 1568, mentions it as being at 

 that time in common cultivation, and prepared for the 

 table precisely in the same manner as it is at present. 



Spinach is an annual plant, having large and suc- 

 culent leaves : the flowering stems, which are hollow 

 and branched, rise to the height of two or three feet. 

 The male flowers grow on different plants to those 

 of the female, which yield the seed. The former are 

 produced in long terminal spikes, and the latter in 

 close branches at the joints of the stem, or in the 

 axilla? of the leaves and branches. This plant is 

 remarkable as being one of the plants which are 

 dioecious, that is, having the different parts of fructi- 

 fication upon separate plants. Some trees which are 

 cultivated for their fruit, such as the date-palms, have 

 the same peculiarity. 



Two varieties of spinach are cultivated. The 

 leaves of the one are arrow-shaped and rough, and 

 of the other round and smooth. July and August 

 are the months in which the seeds of both kinds 

 would naturally 'come to maturity ; but as they 

 slightly differ in their qualities it is found more ad- 

 vantageous to sow them at different seasons. The 

 round- leaved grows the fastest, is the largest and 

 most succulent, and therefore is sown for succession 

 crops in spring and summer ; the other, being much 

 more hardy, is preferred for winter supply. The 

 former is usually sown in January, from which time 

 until the end of July frequent sowings are made 

 for a regular succession, from the beginning of April 

 to continue throughout the summer. The rough- 

 leaved is usually sown in August for a winter crop. 



