426 History of Garden Vegetables. 
says Vilmorin,' who includes it among the plants of the kitchen 
garden. Burr? says the plant is sometimes eaten boiled, but it 
is generally pickled in its green state, like the common cucumber, 
and adds that it is not worthy of cultivation. 
Good King Henry. Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus L. 
The leaves are eaten as a spinage. The plant is now but 
rarely cultivated. Gerarde speaks of it in 1597 as a wild plant 
only, while Ray in 1686 refers to it as frequently among vege- 
tables, and Bryant in 1783 says formerly cultivated in English 
gardens, but of late neglected, although certainly of sufficient merit. 
In 1807 Miller’s Dictionary says it is generally in gardens about 
Boston, in Lincolnshire, and is there preferred to spinage. It 
cannot have ever received very general culture, as it is only indi- 
cated as a-wayside plant by Tragus, 1552; Lobel, 1570 and 1576; 
Camerarius, 1586; Dalechampius, 1587; Matthiolus, 1598 ; Cha- 
bræus, 1677, etc. Its value as an antiscorbutic finds recognition 
in its names, Bonus-Henricus and tota bona. 
It is called in English, Good King Henry, Fat-hen English 
mercury, All Good,‘ Wild or perennial spinage,> goose foot; in 
France, anserine bon-henri, bon-henry, epinard sauvage, patte d'oie 
triangulaire, sarron, serron; in Germany, gemeiner Gansefuss; in 
Flanders and Holland, ganzevoet ; in Italy, bono enries.® 
It is recorded for American culture by Burr in 1863, and has 
now become naturalized about dwellings in a few localities. I have 
never observed it growing. 
Gourd. Lagenaria vulgaris Ser. 
See under Squash. 
It is generally supposed that the Gourd is uneatable. This is 
true of some varieties, but not of others. Duchesne,’ in France, 
speaks of the trompette gourd as edible. In ancient Rome recipes 
for cooking are given by Apicius, and Pliny’ speaks of their 
1 Vilmorin. The Veg. Gard., 1885, 227. 
2 Burr. Field and Gard. Veg., 1863, 179. 
3 Johnson. Useful Pl. of Gt. Brit., 216. 
‘Bryant. Fl. Dict., 1783, 62. 
‘McIntosh. Book of the roca u., 187. 
6 Vilmorin. Les Pl. Pot., 3, 9. 3 
1 Duchesne. Quoted by T. Geog. Bot., 898. 
8 Apicius. Lib. iii., c. 4, 7 
$ Pliny. Lib. xix., c. 24, 
