30 THE BOOK OF HERBS 



It was more often used for " Broths and Decoctions " 

 than for salads, but the tops and flowers were sometimes 

 powdered and strewn on the top of one. It is not much 

 used nowadays, but I once saw an excitable Welsh cook 

 seize on a huge bunch of " dear Hyssop " with exclama- 

 tions of joy. In the East, " some plants diverted fascina- 

 tion by their smell," ^ and hyssop was one of these, and 

 as a protection against the Evil Eye, was hung up in 

 houses. 



Lamb's Lettuce or Corn Salad {Valeriana Locusta). 



Lamb's Lettuce is variously known as mdche, doucette, 

 salade de chanoine, poule-grasse, and was formerly called 

 " Salade de Preter, for their being generally eaten in 

 Lent." It is a small plant, with " whitish-greene, long 

 or narrow round-pointed leaves . . . and tufts of small 

 bleake blue flowers." In corn-fields it grows wild, but 

 Gerarde says, " since it hath growne in use among the 

 French and Dutch strangers in England, it hath been 

 sowen in gardens as a salad herbe," and adds that among 

 winter and early spring salads "it is none of the worst." 

 The fact of its being " recognised " at a comparatively late 

 date, by the English, and even then through the practices 

 of the French, perhaps accounts for the lack of English 

 "pet" names, conspicuous beside the number bestowed 

 on it on the other side of the Channel. De la Quintinye is 

 not in accord with his countrymen on the subject, for he 

 calls it a " wild and rusticall Salad, because, indeed, it is 

 seldom brought before any Noble Company." Despite 

 this disparaging remark, it is still a favourite in France, 

 and it is surprising that a salad plant that stands cold so 

 well should not be more cultivated in this country. Lettuce 

 is so much more recognised as a vegetable than a herb 

 that it will not be mentioned here. 

 ' Friend. 



