308 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



plentifull than profytable, and more noysome than 

 nowrishinge to manne's nature.'* Yet they were used 

 thirty years before at the table of Henry VIII. 



This plant is of quick growth, shooting up its 

 flower-stem in a few weeks, after which the root 

 becomes stringy and too pungent to be agreeable ; it 

 is, therefore, fit to be pulled sooner after sowing than 

 almost any other plants, except those of which the 

 seed-leaves are eaten as salad. 



There are many varieties of the radish, which differ 

 from each other in shape, colour, flavour, or in the 

 seasons most suitable for their cultivation. Radishes 

 are distinguished, according to their form, into long or 

 spindle-shaped, and round or turnip-rooted. 



RHUBARB Rheum. The petioles of rhubarb have 

 a pleasant acidity ; these, when peeled and cut into 

 pieces, form no unworthy substitute for fruit in spring 

 tarts ; to furnish a supply for which this plant is now 

 largely cultivated in the vicinity of the metropolis. 



Several species of Rheum are cultivated in England. 

 The root of the true Rhubarb Rheum palmatum 

 is well known as a medicinal drug, and for that pur- 

 pose has long been imported from the Levant, though 

 the particular plant, of which it was the root, was not 

 ascertained until 1758, when it was first introduced 

 and cultivated in this country by Dr John Hope.f 

 It is a native of some parts of Tartary, where the 

 physical characters of the climate are well adapted 

 for the perfecting of its root, the properties of which 

 are very faintly retained in countries where the season 

 of dormant vegetation is humid. This plant is of 

 very handsome appearance. Its beautiful palmate 

 leaves distinguish it from the other species ; but as 

 the parts used for culinary purposes, the footstalks 

 of the radical leaves, are much smaller than those t 

 the other kinds, it is not in general cultivation. 



* ' Book of Simples,' fo. 53. t Phil. Trans, vol. lv, 



