THE HERB GARDEN 37 



hound, lady's-smock, lang-de-beefe, lovage, penny- 

 royal (which made a drink for harvesters), rampion 

 (one of Hans Andersen's fairy stories is about 

 rampion), saflfron, self-heal, skirrets, smallage, 

 samphire. Sweet Cicely. 



Alecost or costmary is a charming herb, with 

 long, narrow leaves of palest green, tasting slightly 

 of mint ; it was used in flavouring beer, hence its 

 name. Sweet Cicely {Myrrhis odorata) is a pretty, 

 graceful plant, the stalk and leaves of which taste 

 as if sprinkled with sugar, but not at all of myrrh 

 so far as I can perceive. Bees love it, and so did 

 housemaids in time gone by, who used oil made 

 of its seeds to polish and scent their oaken floors 

 and furniture. Both these plants deserve a place 

 in every herb border. 



From the bulb of saffron the useful medicine 

 colchicum is extracted. Samphire, St. Peter's herb, 

 properly a sea-cliff^ plant, was once so popular as 

 a pickle that it was made to grow in gardens. 

 Did space permit, there is a good deal to be said 

 about all these old-world plants, now seldom seen, 

 but every one supplying scent or savour, food or 

 medicine. 



