sturtevant's notes on edible plants 565 



to a larger size, others are always dwarfer; some have an open manner of growth, others 

 a close manner. 



The use of the wild plant as a vegetable seems to have been common from remote 

 times, but its cultiire is modem. In 1836, a Mr. Corey, Brookline, Massachusetts, grew 

 dandelions for the Boston market from seed obtained from the largest of the wild plants.^ 

 In 1863, dandelions are described among garden esculents by Bxirr,^ but the context does 

 not indicate any especial varieties. In 1874, perhaps earlier, the seed appears for sale in 

 seed cat^gs,' and the various seed catalogs of 1885 offer six names, one of which is the 

 " common." In England, dandelion culture is not mentioned in Mawe's Gardener, 1778, 

 nor in Martyn's Miller's Dictionary, 1807; the first notice is in the Gardeners' Chronicle,* 

 where an instance of cultivation is noted, the herbage forming " a beautiful and delicate 

 blanched salad." In 1880, its culture had not become common, as this year its cultivation 

 in France, and not in England, is noted. ^ In France, Noisette * gives cultviral directions 

 and say^ the wild plant furnishes a spring potherb. The dandelion is not, however, 

 mentioned in L' Horticulteur Frangaise,'' nor in Nouveau Dictionnaire du Jardinage, 1826. 

 Vilmorin * mentions its culture in France as dating from 1868, and the firm of Vihnorin- 

 Andrieux et Cie., 1885, offers four sorts of seed, one, the Improved Moss, as new. In 

 Vilmorin's Les Plantes Potageres,^ 1883, two forms are figured: Pissenlit ameliore a, coeur 

 plein and Pissenlit ameliore tr^s hatif. The first of these is named in Album de Cliches, 

 Pissenlit ameliore frise, and a foiu-th name or third form is figured, the Pissenlit mousse. 



The type of the Pissenlit mousse can be readily foimd among the wild plants on the 

 grounds of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, very closely resembling Vil- 

 morin's figure in every respect when growing on rich soil, except that the leaf divisions 

 are scarcely as much crowded. 



The type of the Pissenlit ameliore a coeur plein is perhaps to be recognized in Anton 

 Pinaeus' figure, 1561, and is certainly to be found growing wild at the New York Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. 



The Pissenlit ameliore trbs hatif is figured in 1616; the resemblance between the two 

 figures, the one by Dodonaeus and the other by Vilmorin, is very close. It is also to be 

 foimd growing wild on the New York Station grounds. 



Tazus baccata Linn. Coniferae. yew. 



North temperate Europe and Asia. The berries, says Johns,*" are of a mawkish, 

 disagreeable taste but are eaten with impvmity by children. The nut contains a kernel 



Mass. Hort. Soc. Trans. 128. 1884. 

 ' Burr, F. Field, Card. Veg. 345. 1863. 

 ' Briggs Bros. Cat. 1874. 



* Gari. CAron. 340. 1846. 



' Jenkins Journ. Roy. Agr. Soc. 16:94. 



Noisette Man. Jard. 356. 1829. 

 '' PiroUe L'Hort. Franc. 1824. 



' Bon Jard. 485. 1882. 

 Vilmorin Veg. Card. 22<). 1885. 

 "Johns, C. A. Treas. Bot. 2:1126. 1870. 



