ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF OUR GARDEN VEGETABLES. 353 



called because it is accounted to be of force and efficacie against the 

 poisons of Vipers and Serpents, for Vipera, or a viper, is called in 

 Spanish Scurzo. In English we may call it Scorzoner after the 

 Spanish name, or Viper's Grasse." 



Parkinson, writing in 1640, says of it: "The roote is as thicke 

 as three fingers or more, but much shorter than in any other kinds 

 [of Scorzonera ; he describes six in all] , blackish without, and some- 

 what whitish within, yeelding very little milke, when it is broken." 

 The plant is said to be wild in Europe, from Spain, where it abounds, 

 the South of France, and Germany, to the region of the Caucasus, 

 and perhaps even as far as Siberia, but it is wanting in Sicily and 

 Greece. In several parts of Germany the species is probably 

 naturalized from cultivation."* 



With regard to the use of the root the following has been given 

 as to its esculent and medicinal values. " The taste is sweetish and 

 agreeable, something like that of the roots of certain umbelliferous 

 plants or the common hazel-nut, and a variety with a paler skin has 

 a still more agreeable flavour. Its effects on the digestive organs are 

 to increase the flow of gastric juice and bile. It is said that its 

 antibilious power is scarcely inferior to that of dandelion, and it is 

 on this account one of the best remedies in cases of indigestion. These 

 good effects, however, cannot be insured unless the root is properly 

 cooked, as its medicinal qualities may be quickly destroyed. It should 

 be cut as little as possible, and washed, not scraped, as the abundant 

 milky juice, on which its salutary properties depend, then escapes. 

 After boiling for about twenty or twenty-five minutes, or till it is quite 

 soft (rather more salt being added to the water than usual in cooking 

 vegetables), it is to be taken out and peeled, as the dark skin then 

 comes off as readily as that of a boiled potato. When fresh from the 

 garden a quarter of an hour may be sufficient, which is of some 

 importance to the invalid to know ; because after it has become quite 

 soft all further boiling is injurious to its medicinal qualities, and soon 

 j destroys them; but when it has lain out of the ground for a long time 

 ■ and become hardened, it may require twice the time to boil — the rule 

 ! then is, to boil until it he soft. It is usually eaten in the same way 

 I as asparagus, which is the preferable mode for the invalid. It is one 

 I of the m.ost agreeable of vegetables in point of flavour. ' ' f 



This root shows very well how a drug-plant passed into a culinary 

 vegetable ; such being the origin of many of the latter. . 



Skirret. 



This name has been apphed to the Greek Sisaron and the Latin 

 Siser or Sisarum; but Linnaeus placed it under the genus Sium as 

 S. Sisarum (eighteenth century). In the fourteenth century " Skir- 

 . whit " and " Baucea " were both applied to the wild Parsnip. The first 

 I question is, What did the ancients mean by Siser or Sisarum ? Sisaron 



I * Origin of Cultivated Plants, A. de Candolle, p. 44. 



! t Treasury of Botany, s.v. p. 1041. 



I 



