THE ANGELICA, ETC. 



689 



and the lovage, Ligiisticum scoticum Z,., an umbelliferous perennial, eaten 

 raw in the Highlands of Scotland. 



1555. The elecampane^ Inula Helenium L., is a carduaceous perennial, a 

 native of the South of England in moist pastures. The root is fusiform, 

 thick, and aromatic, and is candied like the stalks of the angelica, and much 

 admired in France and Germany. The plant ought to be taken up yearly, 

 and divided and replanted, in order that the roots may be obtained succulent 

 and tender, and for the same reason the plant ought never to be allowed to 

 come into flower. 



1556. The samphire^ Crithmum maritimum Z., is an umbelliferous 

 perennial, a native of England, on rocky cliffs by the sea, and cultivated in 

 gardens for its seed-pods, which make a warm aromatic pickle, and its leaves, 

 which are used in salads. It is propagated by division, or by sowing the 

 seed in April ; but in either way it is rather difficult of cultivation. It suc- 

 ceeds best in a gravelly soil, kept moist, and sprinkled in spring with a 

 little powdered barilla, or common sea-salt. During winter it requires to be 

 protected by a little dry litter. By this treatment it has produced an ample 

 supply of shoots, which may be cut twice in a season. Seed may be saved, 

 or plants procured from their native habitats on the sea-coast, as for example 

 at Dover, Salcombe, and on the coast of Galloway and Haddington shires. 



1557. Substitutes for the samphire are to be found in some other plants 

 which grow within salt-water mark ; for example, the golden samphire, 

 Inula crithmifolia Z., a perennial, not uncommon in salt marshes; and 

 Salicdrnia herbacea jL., a chenopodiaceous annual, found on muddy sea- 

 shores throughout Europe; in Echinophora spinbsa Z,., an umbelliferous 

 plant, a native of sandy shores in Lancashire and Kent ; the young leaves of 

 which make a wholesome and excellent pickle. 



1558. The caper, Capparis spinosa i., is a capparidaceous trailing shrub, 

 a native of the South of Europe, on rocks and dry stony or gravelly places, and 

 cultivated about Marseilles, and other parts of France, for its flower- buds, when 

 about half the size which they attaui before expanding. It might be culti- 

 vated in the South of England in the open garden, and in other parts against 

 a conservative wall ; or if it were thought necessary a few plants under glass 

 would supply all that would suffice for an ordinary family. It would thrive 

 on the rocky shores of the south of Devon, more especially about Salcombe, 

 where the Agave stands through the winter without protection ; and it will 

 also succeed in Somersetshire, as Sir John Trevelyan has proved, by plant- 

 ing it on the sides of an old stone quarry. 



1559. Excellent substitutes for the caper are found in the unripe fruit of 

 the Indian cress, and of the Euphorbia Lathyris L. 



1560. The ginger, Zingiber officinale L., a scitamineous perennial from 

 the East Indies, is sometimes cultivated in our stoves for the roots, or creep- 

 ing underground stems, to be taken when succulent, and pickled and pre- 

 served. The plants are divided when in a dormant state, and planted in rich 

 light soil, and in a year afterwards the roots are fit to gather, (G. Jf., 

 vol. vii., p. 578.) 



1561. The flowers of Magnolia grandiflbra L., are pickled in some parts 

 of Devonshire, and considered exquisite in flavour ; and we have no doubt 

 that the flower-biids of the other species, and the leaf-buds when bursting, 

 of all the species, and also of the tulip tree, might be used for the same 

 purpose. 



