284 



HORTICULTURE. 



Kitchen 

 Garden. 



Ox-eye 



daisy. 



Cotton, 

 thistle. 



to take deep root in an old wall, or on n artificial rock- 

 work, they will have a much better chance to remain. 



^T" ' The name samphire is a corruption of sampier, and this 

 again is derived from the French name of the plant 

 Saint Pierre. It may be observed, that what is called 

 golden samphire in Covent Garden market, is the Inula 

 crithmifolia, Eng. Bot. t. 68 ; and that the Marsh sam- 

 phire of the same market, is the Salicornia herbacea, 

 Eng. Bot.. t 415. 



BuckVhorn 441. Buck's-horn Plantain (Planlago coronopus, L.) 



Plantain, was formerly cultivated as a salad herb, but is now ne- 

 glected, the smell being to many rank and disagree- 

 able. It is still, however, regularly sown in French 

 gardens as a salad herb, under the name of Corne de 

 Cerf. 



442. The young leaves of the Ox-eye Daisy (Chry- 

 santhemum Itucanlhemum, L.) are noticed by Dr Wi- 

 thering as fit to be eaten in salads ; and John Bauhin 

 mentions that they were much used for that purpose in 

 Italy. 



443- The Cotton Thistle ( Onopordum acanthium, L. ; 

 English Botany, t. 977.) is a biennial, growing natu- 

 rally in different places, and remarkable for its large 

 downy leaves and lofty stem. It was formerly culti- 

 vated and used like the artichoke and cardoon ; the re- 

 ceptacle, and the tender blanched stalks, peeled and 

 boiled, being the parts used. 



Alexanders. 444. Alexanders (Smyrnium Olusatrum, L. ; English 

 Botany, t. 230.) is a biennial plant, rising about two 

 feet high, and flowering in the spring ; the leaves ef a 

 pale green colour, and the flowers yellowish. Itgrows 

 naturally near the sea in several places, and may often 

 be observed to be naturalized near old buildings. It 

 was formerly much cultivated, having been used as a 

 pot-herb and salad. In flavour it has some resemblance 

 to celery ; by which it has been entirely supplanted. 



Water- 445. Water-Cress (Nasturtium officinale, Hort. Kew. ; 



CTess ' Sisymbrium Nasturtium, L. ; English Botany, t. 855.) 



is a well known perennial inhabitant of our ditches 

 and slow running streams. It forms an excellent 

 spring salad ; and it is easily cultivated in any mar- 

 shy spot, or by the side of a garden pond, by in- 

 troducing a few plants from ditches where it grows 

 wild. The popular remedy called spring juices consists 

 of its juices, with those of brooklime, scurvy-grass, 

 and Seville oranges : it is therefore cultivated by a few 

 market gardeners for the supply of Covent Garden. 

 In France, the, sprigs are used as a garnish to roast 

 fowl. 



Brooklime. 446. Brooklime ( Veronica beccabunga, L. ; English 

 Botany, t. 655.) is a perennial plant, growing in wet 

 places near springs, and in slow running streams or 

 ditches, very generally associated with the water-cress. 

 The leaves are mild, or have only a slightly bitterish 

 taste, and form a very tolerable salad ingredient in 

 March and April. In Scotland the plant is called tva- 

 ter-ptirpie, and the sprigs are gathered for sale along 

 with wall-cresses (well or water cresses.) 



Kettle. 447. The young tops and leaves of the Great Net- 



tle (Urlica dioica, L. ; English Botany, t. 1750) are 

 gathered in early spring, about February, as a pot- 

 herb, and form a tolerably goad one. Nettle-kail is an 

 old Scottish .-dish, now known only by name. If net- 

 tle-tops be wanted, they can readily be had without 

 cultivating the plant 



Sow-thistle. 448. Sow-thistk (Sonchus oleraceus, L. ; English Bo- 

 tany, t. 843.) is a common annual weed in our gar- 

 dens. There is a prickly and a smooth variety. The 

 latter is in some countries boiled and eaten as greens ; 



Kitchen 

 Garden. 



hence the Linnean trivial name oJeraceus. The ten- 

 der shoots boiled in the manner of spinach are very 

 good, superior perhaps to any greens not in common 

 use. 



419. Dandelion (Leonlodon taraxacum, L. ; English 

 Botany, t. 510.) is a well known perennial, generally 

 despised as a troublesome weed : yet the leaves, in ear- 

 ly spring, when they are just unfolding, afford a very 

 good ingredient in salads. The French sometimes eat 

 the young roots, and the etiolated leaves, with thin 

 slices of bread and butter. Blanched dandelion loses 

 its disagreeable flavour, and considerably resembles en- 

 dive in taste. 



450. Bladder Campion, or Spatling Poppy (Silene Bladder 

 iiiflala, Hort. Kew.; English Botany, t. 164.; Cvcu~ campion. 

 balus behen, L. ) is a hardy perennial, growing natu- 



rally by the sides of our corn-fields and pastures. Its 

 young tender shoots, when about two inches long, are 

 excellent when boiled, having something of the flavour 

 of peas. The plant sends forth a great number of 

 sprouts, and when these are nipped off they are suc- 

 ceeded by fresh ones. 



451. The Hop (Humulus Lupulus, L. ; Eng. Bot. Hop-top* 

 t. 427) is well known as being cultivated for the sake 



of its flowers for preserving beer ; but for use as a kit- 

 chen-herb it is little regarded. The young shoots, how- 

 ever, which, early in the spring, rise abundantly from 

 old stocks, are not much inferior to asparagus. They 

 are sometimes, but not often, sent to market, and sold 

 by the name of hop- tops. 



For further particulars regarding esculent plants 

 which have fallen into neglect, the reader may be re- 

 ferred to the " Flora Diaetetica" of Bryant. 



Fungous Plants. 



OF the tribe of Fungi several esculent species occur 

 in this country, belonging to the genera Agaricus, Tu- 

 ber, and Phallus. Only one is cultivated, the Com- 

 mon Mushroom, Agaricus campestris of Limueus, A. 

 edulis of Bulliard and others. 



Common Mushroom. 



452. This is well known. It is most readily dis- 



. i i , f \ 11 i f i 



tinguished, when of middle size, by its fine pink or 

 flesh-coloured gills, and pleasant smell : in a more ad. 

 vanced stage the gills become of a chocolate colour, 

 and it is then more apt to be confounded with other 

 kinds, of dubious quality ; but the species which most 

 nearly resembles it, is slimy to the touch, and destitute 

 of the fine odour, having rather a disagreeable smell : 

 further, the noxious kind grows in woods or on the 

 margins of woods, while the true mushroom springs 

 up chiefly in open pastures, and should be gathered 

 only in such places. 



The uses of the mushroom are familiar ; it is eaten 

 fresh, either stewed or broiled ; and preserved, either 

 as a pickle, or in powder. The sauce commonly called 

 ketchup (supposed from the Japanese kit-jap) is, or 

 ought to be, made from its juice, with salt and spices. 

 Wild mushrooms from old pastures are generally con- 

 sidered as more delicate in flavour and more tender in 

 flesh, than those raised in artificial beds. But the young 

 or button mushrooms of the cultivated sort are firmer and 

 better for pickling; and in using cultivated mushrooms, 

 there is evidently much less risk of deleterious kinds 

 being employed. 



