358 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



able as grown for a seed crop. The young plant is sought 

 in the fields as a salad and improved varieties are culti- 

 vated to some extent. Both the white and the large cab- 

 bage-leaved Chinese kind are grown. The culture is most 

 easy and simple, the treatment being the same as that of 

 lettuce. 



Nasturtium. Tropaeolum. 



Nasturtiums are largely grown as ornamental plants, but 

 the desirability of the flowers for the garnishing of salads 

 and the use of the flower buds and green seed for pickling 

 and as a substitute for capers gives the plants place in the 

 vegetable garden. They thrive almost without care or 

 watering in a corner of the garden, though better growth 

 will show their appreciation of better treatment. They 

 volunteer freely in California from self-sown seed and con- 

 tinue growth all through the frost-free season. They can 

 be trained on fence or trellis or allowed free range as pros- 

 trate plants if space permits; or dwarf varieties may be 

 chosen, as they bloom and fruit freely with less extension. 

 They require little more from the grower than the cover- 

 ing of the seed in soil moist enough for germination. 



Okra or Gumbo. Hibiscus esculentus. 



This popular vegetable of the south is not largely grown 

 in California but can usually be had from market garden- 

 ers. It requires generous moisture supply to thrive and 

 does not take at all kindly to dry heat. Plants may be 

 started in the winter in the ways described for the tomato, 

 and the planting out and treatment is like that of egg 

 plants; or seed may be sown for later crop in the open 

 ground in drills, the plants being subsequently thinned to 

 about a foot apart. The plants should be well cultivated 

 and kept well supplied with water. The Long Green and 

 the White Velvet are the varieties chiefly grown. 



Parsley. Apium petroselinum. 



Parsley can be readily grown in California by the use of 

 a raised bed for fall sowing for winter use and by sowing 



