

EDIBLE WILD PLANTS. 227 



family. The Wild Salsify has been considerably used, but this, with 

 the preceding, is greatly inferior to the cultivated kinds. 



WILD CABBAGE, brassicacam pestris is found in most countries 

 on the sea-coast. The leaves are used in spring, and are thought by 

 some quite equal to the cultivated kind. The leaves have a saline 

 and bitter taste, which is removed on boiling them in two waters. As 

 the plants mature, however, they become unfit for use, from the ac- 

 cumulation of alkaline matter. 



There are also many of the spinacious plants, of which we have 

 spoken, that are gathered in their wild state for food. The sond is 

 collected in large quantities for winter's use by the Laplanders. The 

 leaves being boiled in water and stirred, are reduced to a pulp. This 

 is then mixed with milk and put up in barrels or close vessels, and 

 buried in holes in the ground, lined with bricks or birch bark. It 

 has a very agreeable acid flavor. The people also avail themselves 

 of many other plants rejected by us as poisonous, or unfit for use. The 

 yellow wolf's bane is thus collected in large quantities and boiled and 

 eaten. The poisonous qualities of this are evidently dissipated by 

 heat, as probably almost all of those may be which we hold as poi- 

 sonous. 



Sea Kale, as we have before said, is much eaten as found growing 

 wild on the coast of the north of Europe. The people of the west of 

 England eat large quantities of it, being, when boiled, a very delicate 

 plant. 



The great cat's tail, growing in marshy places in this country, and 

 most other countries, is considerably eaten by the people of parts of 

 Europe, though rarely, if ever, here. In some parts of Turkey they 

 are sold in shops and about the streets. The outer skin is peeled ofl 

 near the roots, and the tender white stem for 18 inches is crisp, cooling, 

 and a very pleasant food. It has been eaten by travellers with a good 

 relish. It is particularly esteemed by the Cossacks. 



Wild Cdlery or Smallage, found on ditches near the sea, and also 

 the wild lettuce, from which our cultivated kinds have sprung, are also 

 eaten ; likewise Alisander and Rampion, as salads. The Cow-thistle, 

 growing on edges of mountains, is much eaten by the Laplanders. 

 The milky stem is peeled and eaten raw ; but, though very bitter, yet 

 when boiled it loses much of that taste. The Water Cress, also a 

 wild plant, is a great delicacy, as we have before described, together 

 with Samphire, &c. 



Many other wild plants are doubtless wholesome and capable of af- 

 fording much nutriment, did necessity compel people to resort to them ; 

 but in this country, where the most nutritive vegetables are so abun- 

 dant, no such necessity has yet existed, and we earnestly hope it may 

 never occur with us. Still a notice of those wild plants which flourish 

 when cultivated ones perish, may not be without its advantages. 



