HERBS CHIEFLY USED IN THE PAST 55 



Cardoons (Cynara Cardunculus). 



This plant is also called Spanish Cardoon or Cardoon 

 of Tours. It is a kind of artichoke " which becomes a 

 truly gigantic herbaceous vegetable. The tender stalks 

 of the inner leaves are sometimes blanched and stewed, 

 or used in soups and salads " ; but it is much less used in 

 England than on the Continent. Cardoons are said to 

 yield a good yellow dye. 



Clary {Salvia Sclarea). 



Percely, clarey and eke sage, 

 And all other herbage. 



John Gardenir. 



" Clary, or more properly Clear-eyes," which in- 

 dicates one of its supposed chief virtues plainly enough. 

 Wild Clary was called Oculus Christi, and was even 

 more valued than the garden kind. Clary was once 

 " used for making wine, which resembles Frontignac, 

 and is remarkable for its narcotic qualities." ^ It was 

 also added to " Ale and Beere in these Northern regions 

 (I think- the Netherlands are meant here) to make it the 

 more heady." The young plant itself was eaten, and 

 an approved way of dressing it was to put it in an 

 omelette " made up with cream, fried in sweet butter " 

 and eaten with sugar and the juice of oranges or lemons. 

 It is now sometimes used to season soups, and Hogg 

 tells us that it was used "in Austria as a perfume; 

 in confectionery, and to the jellies of fruits, it com- 

 municates the flavour of pine-apple." The herbalists 

 speak of a plant called Yellow Clary or " Jupiter's 

 Distaff," and Mr Britten suggests that this was Phlomus 

 fruticosa. 



^ Timbs. 



