EDIBLE WILD PLANTS. 



These are all cryptogamous plants, comprehending immense numbers 

 of remarkable kinds, but few are used as food. Medicinally, fucus is 

 deobstruent and efficacious in scrofulous swellings. This and other spe- 

 cies are burnt for their ashes, which are the ke.lp of commerce. 



CENOMYCE, C. 24, O. 8, T. 2, sp. 20-43, 2 ft. C. rangeferina is 

 the famous lichen which for most of the year supports the vast herds 

 of Rein-deer, in which is all the wealth of the Laplander. It grows 

 in great abundance, most providentially. 



EDIBLE WILD PLANTS. 



This is a class of plants much used for food by man where vegeta- 

 tion is either luxurious or very scanty, and generally where man is lit- 

 tle civilized. They have been chiefly cultivated by men more civil- 

 ized, when found to be useful. Among those used in their wild state 

 are the following : 



WHITE BEET. This is found wild on the salt and marshy shores 

 of Holland and other parts of Europe. It is hard and bitter, and is 

 used as food only in cases of great necessity. 



COUCH-GRASS, a well known and pestiferous plant with farmers, 

 containing in its roots considerable nutriment. This, in times of scar- 

 city and by travellers, has been resorted to as a source of food, and as 

 a substitute for brerd. During dry seasons in Africa the people ga- 

 ther the seeds of the grasses and make a miserable bread of them ; 

 but they appear like skeletons. One of these grasses is crowded with 

 prickles and is painfully annoying to travellers. 



THE SEA PEA, growing wild among stones and sands on the 

 coast, has been considerably resorted to as an article of food. During 

 a famine in England, in 1555, thousands of families were saved by this 

 plant, found growing abundantly on the coast, and this seasonable re- 

 lief was ascribed by the superstitious to the interposition of a saint ; 

 but he was not so fortunate as others unhonored with the title might 

 have been ; for more nutritious vegetables could have been found in 

 the woods and by-ways in most parts of that country. 



The Water Dragon Root affords food for the Laplanders in the form 

 of bread, (missen bread.) The roots are chopped with a spade, then 

 ground, and the meal boiled slowly in water, and stirred till thick. 

 After standing some time its bitterness is expelled, and it is mixed 

 with some other flour, when it makes a sweet and white bread. During 

 scarcity it is fortunate if the peasant can obtain this to avoid a resort 

 to the bark of the fir tree. 



The Silver Weed is considerably resorted to in parts of Scotland to 

 make bread of during scarcity. Some have subsisted on the roots for 

 months. They are roasted or boiled, and have a flavor like the parsnip. 



The Wild Carrot and Parsnip are also articles of food when othei 

 kinds are not to be obtained ; and so also are other roots of the same 



