286 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



alternate bands of yellow and dark green, and covered all over 

 with stout and almost spiny hairs ; the flesh is scanty, and too 

 bitter for eating. Seeds small, flat, oval, but terminating in a point 

 at each end, and with a smooth, almost white skin. Their 

 germinating power lasts for over six years. 



With this species is sometimes confounded the Gooseberry 

 Cucumber {Cucumis myriocarpus, Ndn.) — a plant with long stems 

 and very green leaves, which produces an abundance of very 

 small fruit covered with stout green hairs, and exactly resembling 

 Gooseberries in shape and size. 



CUMIN or CUMMIN 



Cuminum Cyminum^ L. Umbelliferce, 



French, Cumin de Malte. German^ Pfeffer-Kummel. Dutch, Komijn. Italian^ 

 Comino di Malta. Spanish, Comino. 



Native of Upper Egypt. — Annual. — A very low-growing plants 

 seldom more than 4 to 6 in. high, and branching from the base. 

 Leaves reduced to mere linear blades ; flowers small, lilac, borne 

 in terminal umbels of from ten to twenty flowers on the extremities 

 of very divergent branches ; seed large, elongated, concave on one 

 side and convex on the other, with six rather prominent ribs on 

 the convex side, and bearing long hairs, which fold up when the 

 seed is ripe. The seeds have a hot taste and a strong aromatic 

 flavour. Their germinating power lasts fairly well for three years,, 

 but declines visibly after the second year. 



Culture. — The seed is sown in the open ground as soon as it > 

 has become warm enough, that is, in the beginning or middle of 

 May. The plants grow rapidly, and the seed commences to ripen 

 at the end of July. No attention is necessary, except the occasional 

 use of the hoe. The seeds are used for flavouring soups and 

 pastry, and also in the manufacture of some kinds of liqueurs. 



DANDELION 



Leontodon Taraxacum, L. Contpositce, 



French, Pissenlit, Dent-de-lion. Germatt, Lowenzahn. Flemish, Molsalaad. Italian^ 



Dente di leone. 



Native of Europe. — Perennial. — Leaves all radical, spreading 

 into a rosette, smooth, oblong, runcinate, with triangular-lanceolate 

 lobes, and entire towards the extremity ; youngest leaves often 

 brownish at the commencement of their growth. Flower-stalks 

 hollow, one-flowered ; flower-heads large with florets of golden- 

 yellow. Seeds compressed, oblong, rough or scaly, and prickly at 

 the top ; their germinating power lasts for two years. 



