344 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES RADISH 



Spinacli family (Chenopodiacese), growing to a height of from 

 4 to 6 feet, producing dense, erect, compound panicles of flowers. 

 It is a native of Peru, and is much cultivated in Chili and other 

 parts of Western America for its seeds, which form an important 

 article of food, and are considered by the miners and others 

 employed in laborious work as very strengthening. Before the 

 conquest of Peru by the Spaniards it was the principal meal 

 food of the Peruvians. In this country it is cultivated for feed- 

 incy fowls, and its leaves are used as a vegetable. In the United 

 States an oil is obtained from the seeds of C. anthelminticum. 



Radish (EcqyJmmcs sativus), an annual herb of the Cabbage 

 family (Cruciferse). It is not known in a wild state, but is 

 supposed to be a cultivated form of the wild Piadish (E. Ila^^han- 

 istruni), a common plant in this country and Southern Europe. 

 If so, it must have come to its present edible state in early 

 times. 



Radish, Rat-tail {Raphanus caudatus), native of India and 

 China, and was introduced into this country about twenty years 

 ago. It is considered by some authors to be simply a variety 

 of the common radish. It has been highly prized and much 

 sought after on account of its long succulent pods, which under 

 j:[ood cultivation attain a lenojth of 2 to 3 feet, and are eaten 

 either boiled or j)ickled. A few years since it was recommended 

 for cultivation in this country, but it is now seldom heard of. 



Raetem, the Arabic name for a kind of broom, named by 

 Linnaeus Spartiiim monospermitm, a shrub of the P)ean family 

 (Leguminosae). In habit of growth it is similar to the common 

 yellow broom of this country ; but its branches are longer and 

 more flexible, and of a grey colour, forming a dense bush 10 to 

 12 feet high. Its leaves are very small and few ; its flowers are 

 white, followed by a small, single-seeded, pod-like indehiscent 

 fruit. It is common in barren tracts throughout the region of 

 the Mediterranean, both European and African. It is the plant 

 spoken of in the Bible under the name of Juniper : " Who cut 

 up mallows by the bushes and JuniiKv roots for their meat " 

 (Job XXX. 4). Instead of Juniper, the word (rothem) sliould have 



