196 TARRAGON, SYLYBUM, ETC. 



TARRAGON, or Dragon's-wort, is a perennial plant of a hot or 

 biting character, a native of Siberia, brought to England in 1548. It 

 is frequently used in salads, especially by the French, to correct the 

 coldnsss of other herbs ; and the leaves and young tops are used as in- 

 gredients in pickles. They are eaten with beef-steaks, served up with 

 horse-radish ; and an agreeable sauce for fish is made by their infusion 

 in vinegar. They have a fragrant smell and aromatic taste, and are 

 much used in soups. But one variety is cultivated for these purposes. 

 It is propagated by parting the roots in April and planting them in a 

 light rich soil ; it is also increased by slips or cuttings in June and 

 July. When well rooted, they are planted in a dry sheltered spot, 6 

 inches apart. They are forced in boxes in a hot-bed, like mint. 



SYLYBUM, C. 19. O. 1. Composites, sp. 2-5. Dh. ft. 4. A plant 

 formerly much cultivated, and the young leaves used in spring as a 

 salad, or boiled as greens. The young stalks, peeled and soaked in 

 water, are said to be excellent. In the spring of the 2d year the root 

 is prepared like salsafie or skirret, and the receptacle of the flower is 

 pulpy and eats like that of the artichoke. In some places the whole 

 plant is used as fodder for cattle. 



ROCK or SEA SAMPHIRE, Crithmum maritimum, C. 5. O. 2. 

 D. P. 1 ft. An umbelliferous plant growing abundantly on the sea- 

 coast of England, and on cliffs in the South of Europe. The flowers, 

 pickled in vinegar, are used on the table, and as salads and pot-herbs 

 in some places. A more common kind, growing in salt marshes, is 

 also much used ; but is inferior, and without the fine aromatic flavor 

 of the marsh samphire (Salicomia), of class Monandria. Hazar- 

 dous pains were formerly taken by those who collected this plant in 

 England from the precipitous sides of high cliffs, being suspended in 

 the air by ropes, as Shakspeare says, " Half way down ; dreadful 

 trade !" Leaves thrice ternate, leaflets lanceolate, stems a foot high ; 

 flowers greenish white. 



PICRIDIUM, C. 19. O. 1. Compositse, sp. 3. A. ft. H. Culti- 

 vated as a spring salad; and, if cut before being too old, is an excel- 

 lent vegetable, with a pleasant flavor, and devoid of the bitterness of 

 endive, and of the insipidity of young lettuce. 



WATER-LEAF, C. 5. O. 1. Boraginese, sp. 3-6. Dh. P. ft. J., or, 

 as better known here, shawancse salad, it grows in marshes in this coun- 

 try. There are 2 species, both humble plants. H. V r irginicum is the 

 species used as a salad. 



ALISANDERS, Smyrnium, C. 5. O. 2. Umbelliferae, sp. 6-7. Dh. 

 P. ft. 1-3. A genus of plants smelling like myrrh. Some of the spe- 

 cies are cultivated like asparagus and salad plants. They resemble 

 celery, and are cultivated in a similar manner. 



