126 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



herb, of which I had never heard before, which is to be found in 

 great plenty on the iilands of Northland, and of which the inha- 

 bitants of the continent are faid to fetch away boat-loads, preferr- 

 ing it in tuns for winter provifion, as a fuccedaneum to cabbage. 



SECT. IL 



I now, purfuant to my promife, proceed to give an account 

 of fome vegetables growing in Norway, which are little, if at all 

 known out of this country, but are chiefly noxious. In the 

 parifh of Vaage in GuMbrandfdale, particularly in the chapelry 

 of Sel, and poiTibly in more places *, though unknown to me, 

 grows a very lingular and poifonous root, fometimes longifh and 

 knotty, fometimes rounder, and generally of the thicknefs of a 

 half-crown. The leaves are a fpecies of grafs, refembling fedge, 

 the name of it is Selfnape, whether, as fome think it be the wa- 

 ter-pariley of the Germans, or whether Mr. Ramus more juftly 

 Hiles it Aftrantia fylveftais aquatica, Mafterwort, I mall not de- 

 termine, efpecially as the worthy author himfelf fpeaks with dif- 

 fidence, faying ; Aftrantia forte eadem, quae aliis Selfnape, et 

 forte ad cicutas genus referenda f . Such is the force of its poifon, 

 that if a beaft happens to eat any of it, which they are very apt 

 to do, he dies immediately, his belly burfting ; and the very 

 fowls who prey upon the carcafe, foon after drop down dead, as 

 is particularly related in a letter "of colonel Reifhwein to doctor 

 Simon Paulli, which is to be met with in the Acta Medica Phil. 

 vol. ii. p. Hafnienf. Th. Bartholin. X A learned friend of mine has com- 

 municated to me a copy of a letter which he lately received from 

 a clergyman, where, in compliance with his defire, he gives him 



* Mr. Ramus thinks that Oere-Iand is the chief place where they grow ; but this 

 proceeds from his miftaking them from Gramen oflifragum, which will be fhewn 

 to be a very different thing. 



+ In a letter of my learned anceftor Er. Pontoppidon, to Simon Paulli, idib. April. 

 1675, I find this herb to be alfo called Sprengrod ; his words are thefe • " Exficca- 

 tum mitto tibi herbam illam, quas Sels Noepe et Sprengeroed appellatur." This laft 

 name unqueftionably alludes to its poifonous quality. 



X Vol. II. p. 128. Similis eft Apionis, fed radices habet craffas et nodofas inftar 

 radicum feu raparum Botfeldianarum. Si beftia, lit equus, vacca, bos, ovis vel 

 porcus illam devoret (cujus tamen appetunt efcam, unde ruftici, ubi hcec herba 

 crefcit, ifta loca circumfepiunt, in quibus copiofe luxuriat) ftatim moritur et dif- 

 rumpitur. Venenum ejus quoque tarn vehemens, ut avis, fi cadaveri involet, pa- 

 riter concidat confeftim, et fi inde repellatur, ftatim ex tere decidat moriaturque. 

 Hanc plantam hujus regionis incolte appellant, Syllenabbet. 



2 him 



