I 



ASPARAGUS LETTUCE 



399 



very peculiar appearance and the Latin names which they have 

 received from horticulturists, these two plants are nothing but 

 modified forms of the cultivated Lettuce {Lactuca sativa^ L.). The 

 indications obtained from the flowers and seeds leave no doubt 

 whatever on this point. 



PERENNIAL LETTUCE 



Lactuca perennis, L. Compositce. 



Native of Southern Europe. — This plant, which is common in 

 the wild state on light or calcareous 

 soils all over the central districts 

 of France, has been highly spoken 

 of as a vegetable for table use. 

 The part eaten is the leaves, which 

 are very much cut and form their 

 rosettes in the early part of the 

 spring. The plants are gathered 

 where they grow (as Dandelion- 

 plants are gathered in the meadows 

 in various parts of France), but not 

 in sufficient quantity to be sent to 

 market. They do not make a bad 

 salad, but the produce of the plant 

 is so trifling that it is hardly worth 

 cultivating. The seed is black, elongated, and small. Its 

 germinating power lasts for three years. 



LOVAGE, or LOVACHE 



Levisticum officinale ^ Koch ; Ligusticum Levisticum^ L. UmbellifercB. 



French, Ache de montagne. German, Liebstock. Spanish, Apio de monte. 



Native of Southern Europe. — Perennial. — A very tall plant with 

 large, shining, dark green radical leaves^ which are twice or thrice 

 divided into pinnate segments, entire and wedge-shaped at the base 

 and incised lobed in the upper part. Stem thick, hollow, erect, 

 dividing at the top into opposite whorled branches ; flowers yellow, 

 in umbels ; seeds strongly aromatic, hollow and boat-shaped on one 

 side, and convex on the other, with three prominent ribs. Their 

 germinating power lasts for three years. 



Culture. — The plant is propagated either from seed or by 

 division of the roots. The seed is sown as soon as it is ripe — that 

 is, about August. The young plants are planted out permanently, 

 either in autumn or early in spring, in good deep, moist, well- 

 manured soil. The division of the roots should be made in spring. 



Perennial Lettuce natural size ; 

 detached leaf, \ natural size). 



