ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF OUR GARDEN VEGETABLES. 319 



that is made of Seyieuye, that ys an herbe that men maketh mostard 

 ther-of, ..." 



Mixed with vinegar it was used as a mustard plaster by the ancients 

 for the stings of serpents and scorpions. " The pungent essential oil 

 is not produced till the ground seeds are wetted." The ordinary con- 

 diment is -derived from the black mustard, as " the seeds of B. alba 

 do not yield a pungent oil, but only a non- volatile rubefacient." 

 (Church.) Many acres of the yellow-seeded mustard {B. alha) are, 

 however, cultivated for Messrs. Colman near Wisbech. 



Purslane. 



Portulaca oleracea, L., is a very widespread little fleshy-leaved 

 plant with minute yellow flowers. It spreads itself on the surface of 

 the ground, but there is a variety with an upright stem. Both are 

 cultivated in Europe. It is occasionally grown in England as a salad- 

 plant or for pickling. There are three varieties, known as the green, 

 golden, and large-leaved golden. Gerard (1597) figures the " wild " 

 with small leaves and the " garden " purslane with much larger ones. 

 Besides its medicinal uses, he says it was " much used in sallads with 

 oile, salt and vineger. " 



Samphire. 



The samphire {Crithmum maritimum, L.) on the rocks round our 

 coasts was known to the Greeks as Krithmon or Krithamon and as 

 Crithmum to the Eomans. The English name is derived from 

 St. Pierre — i.e. St. Peter's herb. This was corrupted into " sampier " 

 (sixteenth century); thence into "samphire." It was probably so 

 called from growing on rocks, petra being the Greek for rock and petros 

 a stone. Turner, an early writer of the sixteenth century, says it was 

 first used as medicine " sodden in wine," then " both raw and sodden 

 and eaten as a worte or a common mete herb, that is eaten in sallet or 

 otherwise. It is kept in bryne. ' ' 



Other herbalists of the same century repeat the above uses. The 

 marsh samphire {Salicornia herbacea) of our salt-marshes is sometimes 

 substituted for the true samphire, but it is much inferior. Its main use 

 •was for making barilla, an impure carbonate of soda, obtained by 

 burning the dried plant. 



Sorrel. 



This was called Oxalis.%OY Acetosa in the sixteenth century, but 

 now is regarded as a species of dock, Rumex Acetosa, L. Besides its 

 medicinal uses, Gerard observes: "The juice in summer-time is a 

 profitable sauce in many meates and pleasant to the taste. It mooveth 

 ; appetite to meate. The leaves may be sodden and eaten in manner of 

 ; a Spinnach tart or as meate." Since the French sorrel, E. scutatus, 

 ' was introduced the British species has fallen in repute, for the former 

 ! has more succulent leaves. Paxton, in his Botanical Dictionary, gives 

 1596 as the year of its introduction. 



