536 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



Sisymbrium alliaria Scop. Cruciferac. garlicwort. sauce-alone. 



This plant, of Europe and adjoining Asia, is the sauce-alone of Gerarde,' who says 

 " divers eat the stamped leaves hereof with salt fish, for a sauce, as they do those of 

 ransons." It is the garlicwort of Turner' and is eaten with meat, having a strong odor 

 of garlic. According to Neill,' when gathered as it approaches the flowering state, if 

 boiled separately and then eaten with boiled mutton, it forms a desirable potherb. In 

 Wales, it is often fried with bacon or herrings and is sometimes eaten as a salad. The 

 Germans call it sasskraut and use it much as a salad in the spring. In England, it is vised 

 with lettuce. 



S. canescens Nutt. tansy mustard. 



North and South America. The seeds are collected by the Indians of California.* 



S. officinale Scop, bank cress, crambling rocket, hedge mustard. 



Europe and north Africa. This European herb, now naturalized in the United 

 States, is used as greens or spinach in many parts of Britain. Don ' says the plant smells 

 strongly of garlic and was formerly used in Europe by country people in sauces and salads. 

 Bridgeman, 1832, in his work on American gardening says it is used as an early potherb 

 and has a warm and acrid flavon Johnson ' says it is occasionally cultivated as a pot- 

 herb but is not very palatable. 



Slum decimibens Thunb. Umbelliferae. jellico. 

 Japan. The leaves are eaten in Cochin China.' 



S. helenianum Hook. f. jellico. 



St. Helena Islands. This species is called jellico at St. Helena, where the green 

 stems are sold in the markets for eating raw.* 



S. latifolitmi Linn, water parsnip. 



North America and Europe. The leaves are cooked and eaten in Italy.' 



S. sisarum Linn, skirret. 



Eastern Asia. This plant is a hardy perennial, usually grown as an aimual, a native 

 of China; introduced into Britain before 1548. It is mentioned by Gerarde.'" The 

 Emperor Tiberius is said to have demanded this sweet and somewhat aromatic root as 

 a tribute from the Germans living on the Rhine. In America, it was seen by Romans " 

 at Mobile, Alabama, in 1775. In 1806, it is mentioned among garden products by 



' Gerarde, J. Herb. 650. 1597. 



' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 634. 1879. {Erysimum alliaria) 



Johnson, C. P. Useful Ph. Gt. Brit. ^3. 1862. {Erysimum alliaria) 



Brewer and Watson Bot. Cal. 40. 1880. 



' Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:209. 1831. (Alliaria officinalis) 



Johnson, C. P. Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 35. 1862. 

 ' Loureiro Fl. Cochin. 179. 1790. 



' Treas. Bot. 2:130s. 1876. 



'Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 172. 1879. 



'"Gerarde, J. Herb. 201. 1597. 



" Romans Afo/. ffis/. F/a. 1:115. 1775- 



