41 



PARSNIP.— PASTINACA. 



Natural order, Umbellatce. A genus of the 

 Pentandria Digynia class. 



The garden parsnip, Pastinaca sativa, is 

 thought to be a native plant, and to have 

 been procured by cultivation from the wild 

 parsnip, Pastinaca sylvestris latifolia, which 

 is indigenous to our soil, and often found in 

 dry pastures and by road sides ; this, it is 

 said, will, by sowing its seed for two or three 

 successive years in rich soil, produce the sativa 

 or garden parsnip. 



The best parsnips were anciently brought 

 from Germany, as we find the Emperor 

 Tiberius took great pains to have them an- 

 nually brought from that country, and he 

 would (according to Pliny's account) often 

 call for them at his own table. They were 

 principally brought from the neighbourhood 

 of a castle called Gelduba, which was si- 

 tuated upon the banks of the Rhine : these, 

 says Pliny, were very fine ; and from thence 

 it is clear, that parsnips love cold regions. 



