200 PARSLEY. 



leaflets, and the rays of the umbels few and unequal. This 

 plant grows in moist fields, in a calcareous soil, in the middle 

 and south of England. In Gerard's Herbal we have a very 

 elaborate description of it by Mr. John Goodyer, and an ac- 

 count of the origin of the name Honewort, from its being used 

 to cure a swelling in the cheek called a hone. 



Parsley was held in great esteem by the ancient Greeks, as it 

 constituted the victor's crown at the Nemean and Isthmian 

 games ; it was also used at funerals, and was strewed upon the 

 tombs * of the departed. The garlands bestowed upon the 

 conquerors at the games instituted in honour of the illustrious 

 dead were usually of parsley, as it was thought to have some 

 peculiar relation to the dead, being fabled to have sprung from 

 the blood of Archemorus. Virgil and Horace speak of its em- 

 ployment as a coronary herb : — 



" Floribus atque apio crines ornatus amaro." 



Virg. Eel. vi. v. 68. 



" Nee desint epulis rosae, 

 Neu vivax apium, neu breve lilium." 



Hor. Carm. lib. I. Ode 36. 



" Quis udo 

 Deproperare apio coronas, 

 Curatve myrto ? Quern Venus arbitrum 

 Dicet bibendi ?" 



Ibid. Carm. lib. n. Ode 7- 



From its being thus introduced at the banquets of the 

 ancients, some commentators have supposed that it was esteemed 

 preventive of intoxication, like the Ivy. 



When speaking of the Fool's-Parsley, we mentioned that it 

 had sometimes been mistaken for the Garden Parsley ; the 

 danger may be obviated by cultivating only the curled leaved 

 variety of the latter (P. sativum crispum). Another variety is 

 the broad-leaved, (P. sativum latifolium,) cultivated for the sake 

 of its large edible roots. 



Qualities and general Uses. — The use of Parsley as a 

 culinary vegetable is familiar to every one. Sheep are very 



* Hence the proverb lt7tr§xt aiXmv, to be in need only of parsley, applied 

 to those dangerously ill and not expected to live. 



