SEA-SIDE PLANTS. 59 



young. There is, however, a difference of taste 

 in these matters ; for Dr. Walker, who gathered 

 this plant from the Bass Rock, remarks that the 

 leaves were large, tender, and succulent ; and says 

 that he and his friends had a dish dressed of them, 

 and agreed in thinking them preferable to any 

 other greens they had lately tasted, 



It is now nearly a century since the Sea-kale 

 was brought into repute in our country, by Dr. 

 Lettsom, who highly praised it. In English gar- 

 dens it is cultivated and blanched, by excluding the 

 light with sands, ashes, or some other opaque sub- 

 stance. The root of a species called the Tartarian 

 Sea-kale is very sweet, and is eaten uncooked, with 

 vinegar, oil, and salt, or it is boiled. It is so well 

 liked by the Hungarians, that they call it Tar- 

 tarian bread. 



The Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) was by 

 our forefathers termed Sperage or Coral wort, while 

 some good old English writers called it by a name 

 still in common use among uneducated persons, 

 Sparrow-grass. It is a native of several parts of 

 the south and south-west coasts of England. The 

 little island called Asparagus Isle, at Kynance 

 Cove, Cornwall, received its name from the abun- 

 dance of this plant growing on that spot, to which 

 in autumn its bright yellow feathery foliage and 

 scarlet berries are a very picturesque addition. It 

 is also described as growing in great plenty on 

 the pebbly beach near Weymouth, and on the 

 Links near Gosford, in Scotland. On several 

 maritime places of Europe it is an abundant pro- 

 duction of the sands ; and on the sandy steppes 

 of Russia and Turkey, as well as on similar spots of 

 the Greek islands, it is found far away from the 



