606 THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



a sort of broadly funnel-shaped collarette of the same texture as 

 the leaves, from the centre of which issue short panicles of small 

 white flowers ; seeds small, black, slightly flattened, and lentil- 



Winter Purslane ( natural size). 



shaped. Their germinating power lasts for five years. The seed 

 is sown, where the plants are to stand, all through spring and 

 summer. The leaves are eaten as salad, or cooked like ordinary 

 Purslane or Spinach. 



RADISHES 



Raphanus sativus, L. Cruel/era. 



French, Radis. German, Radies. Flemish, and Dutch, Radijs. Danish, Haveroed-dike. 

 Italian, Ravanello. Spanish, Rabanito. Portuguese, Rabao. 



Native of South Asia (?). Annual. The type or original plant 

 from which the cultivated forms of Radishes have been derived is 

 not known with certainty. The question has given rise to many 

 inquiries and discussions, and probably will give rise to many more, 

 as the highest and most competent authorities on the subject 

 hesitate to decide the point. Up to the present, no wild plant has 

 been found with characteristics which would allow of its being 

 regarded unmistakably as the progenitor of cultivated Radishes. 

 The opinion that these have sprung from Raphanus Raphanistrum 

 (the Wild Radish of our fields) may be- maintained, but there are 

 very important indications which appear to us to be opposed to it. 

 Besides the differences in the colour of the flowers (which, in the 

 Wild Radish, are often yellow, but never so in the cultivated 



