Book I. 



WILD PLANTS FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES. 



083 



SuBSECT. 3. Leguminous Wild Plants Edible. 



4309. Sea-peas. Pisummaritimum,'L. (Eng. Bot. 

 1046.) Diad. Decan. L. and Leguminosce, J. 

 {Jig. 476.) These peas have a bitterish disagree- 

 able taste, and are therefore rejected when more 

 pleasant food is to be got. In the year 1555, how- 

 ever, when there was a great famine in England, the 

 seeds of this plant were used as food, by which, ac- 

 cording to Turner, thousands of families were pre- 

 served. The bitter of these seeds might in all 

 piobability be removed by steeping and kiln-dry- 

 ing, as in preparing for the mill peas which are to be 

 split. 



4310. Wild vetches. Lathyrus, Vicia, and Ervum, L. Diad. 

 Decan. L. and Leguminoscs, J. The seeds of all the British 

 species of these genera may be used as peas. They are found 

 in hedges, woods, and corn-fields, and are most prolific in dry 

 seasons. 



SuBSECT. 4. Salads from Wild Plants. 

 4311. Ladies' smock. Cardamine jyratensis, L. {Eng. Bat. 776.) Tetrad. Silig. L. 

 and Cruaferce, J. The leaves of this plant afford an agreeable acrid salad, greatly 

 resembling the American cress. 



4312. Stone-crop, or orpine. Sedum Telephiwn, L. {Eng. Bot. 1319.) Decan. Pentag. L. and Semper- 

 vivece, J. Triqve Madam, Fr. The leaves are eaten in salads like those of purslane, to which, by the 

 French, it is considered equal. 



4313. Sea-bindweed. Convolvulus Soldanella, L. {Eng. Bot. 314.) Pent. Monog. L. and ConvolvtUacecFf 

 B. P. This plant abounds on sea-coasts, where the inhabitants gather the tender stalks, and pickle 

 them. It is considered to have rather a cathartic quality. 



4314. Sweet Cicely. Scandix odorata, L. {Eng. Bot. 697.) Pentan. Dig. L. and UmbellifercE, J. 

 The leaves of this plant used to be employed like those of chervil. The green seeds ground small, and 

 used with lettuce or other cold salads, give them a warm agreeable taste. The smell of the plant attracts 

 bees, and the insides of empty hives are often rubbed with it before placing them over newly-cast swarms 

 to induce them to enter. 



4315. Buckskorn-plantain, or star of the earth. Plantago coronopus^ L. {Eng. Bot. 892.) Tetrand. 

 Monog. L. PlantaginetE, B. P. Corne de Cerf, Fr. ; Krahenfuss, Ger. ; and Coronopo, Ital. This is a 

 hardy annual, a native of Britain, found in sandy soils. It is a low spreading plant, with linear pinnated 

 leaves, and round stalk : producing short spikes of starry flowers from May to August. It was formerly 

 cultivated as a salad herb, and used like the common cress ; but is now neglected in English gardens, 

 perhaps on account of its rank and disagreeable smell. It is still, however, regularly sown in French 

 gardens. It is raised by seed, which may be sown the first week in March ; and after the plants have 

 come up, they should be thinned so as each may occupy from five to nine square inches. To ensure a 

 succession of tender leaves, cut off the flowers as they appear. 



4316. Ox-eye daisy. Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, L. {Eng^ Bot. 601.) Syng. Polyg. Super. L. and 

 CorymbifercB, J. Marguerite grande, Fr. ; Grosse Wucherblum£, Ger. ; and Leucanterno, Ital. This is a 

 perennial plant, common in dry pastures. The leaves, which spring immediately from the root, are 

 obovate with foot-stalks ; from these a stem arises from two to three feet high, furnished with oblong, 

 embracing pinnatifid leaves. The flowers are large, with yellow disks and white rays, and appear in 

 June and July. The young leaves were much used in Italy in salads in Bauhin's time ; and they are 

 mentioned by Dr. Withering as being fit for this purpose. The plant is easily propagated by dividing the 

 roots after the flowering season. To produce succvdent tender leaves, it should be placed in soft, rich^ 

 moist earth. 



SuBSECT. 5. Substitutes for Chinese Teas from Wild 

 Plants. 



4317. Speedwell. Veronica spicata^ L. {Eng. Bot. 

 2.) Dian. Monog. L. and ScrophularincB, B. P. This 

 plant is sometimes used as a substitute for tea ; and 

 is said to possess a somewhat astringent taste like 

 green tea {Camellia viridis). 



4318. Spring grass. Anthoxanthum odxyratum, L. {Eng. Bot. 

 647.) Dian. Dig. L. and Graminece, B. P. {fig. 477.) This is a 

 highly odoriferous grass, a decoction of which is said to bear a 

 considerable resemblance to tea. 



4319. Other substitutes. The leaves of the black currant afford 

 a very good substitute for green tea ; and those of Saxifraga 

 crassifolia are said, by Took {Russ. Emp.), to be used as tea in 

 Siberia. Betonica qfficinalis (Eng. Bot. 1142.) is said to have 

 the taste and all the good qualities of foreign tea without the 

 bad ones. 



SuBSECT. 6. Wild Plants applied to various Domestic Purposes. 

 4320. Butterwort. Pinguicula vulgaris, L. {Eng. Bot. 70.) IHand. Monog. L. 

 and Lentibulareee, B. P. The inhabitants of Lapland and the north of Sweden give to 

 milk the consistence of cream by pouring it warm from the cow upon the leaves of this 

 plant, and then instantly straining it, and laying it aside for two or three days till it 



