COCHLEARIA ARMORACIA.— HORSE RADISH. 
Class XV. TET R AD YN AM I A. Order I. SILICULQSA. 
Natural Order, CRUCIFERA.— THE CRUCIFEROUS TRIBE. 
Fig. («) represents a flower, with the calyx and petals removed ; (5) the germen ; (c) the pod. 
Horse-radish is a perennial plant, growing naturally by the sides of ditches, on the banks of rivers, and 
in waste grounds, from the refuse of gardens. It has long been received into our materia medica, and was 
cultivated in Britain in the time of Gerard, who says, “ Horse-radish for the most part groweth, and is 
planted in gardens, yet have I found it wild in sundrie places, as at Namptwich in Cheshire, in a place 
called the Milne Eye, and also at a small village near London, called Hogsdon, in the field next vnto a farm 
house, leading to Kingsland, where my verie good friend Master Bredwell, a practitioner in physick, a 
learned and diligent sercher of symples, and Master YViliam Martin, one of the Fellowship of Barbers and 
Chirurgians, my deere and louing friende, in company with him, found it, and gaue me knowledge of the 
place where it flourisheth to this day.” The specimen from which our figure was taken, grew by the side 
of the Thames, between the Red-House, Battersea, and Putney Bridge, where it was also found many 
years ago by Sir J. E. Smith, and figured in “English Botany,” t. 2223. It flowers in June ; but rarely 
perfects its seeds. 
The root so well known at table as an accompaniment of the roast beef of Old England, is long, white, 
cylindrical, strikes deep into the earth, and is extremely difficult of extirpation. The stem is round, erect, 
branched, and rises about two feet high. The radical leaves are petiolate, very large, dark green, oblong, 
obtuse, veiny, crenate, waved, and occasionally pinnatifid : those of the stem are scattered, much smaller, 
sessile, lanceolate, sometimes serrated or toothed, and sometimes entire. The flowers are numerous, white, 
and terminate the stem in dense clusters. The leaves of the calyx are ovate, concave, spreading, and deci- 
duous; the petals obovate, twice the length of the calyx, and inserted by narrow claws. The filaments are 
awl-shaped, incurved, the length of the calyx, and bearing heart-shaped anthers. The germen is oblong, 
surmounted with a short style, and a large capitate stigma, changing into an elliptical, compressed, notched, 
bilocular pod, containing about four seeds in each cell, most of which prove abortive. 
Culture. — The Horse-radish is generally propagated by cuttings, and requires a rich deep soil, in 
order to induce the plants to strike their roots freely. “ Crowns,” says Mr. Neill, “having about two or 
three inches only of root attached to them make very good plants; but cuttings of the knotty parts of the 
roots, provided always they be furnished with one or two buds or eyes, are often preferred, as they are to be 
planted entirely under the soil. They are generally planted in February or March, in lines, leaving a foot 
and a half between each line. The sets are placed at the depth of at least a foot; if the soil be light fifteen 
inches is not too deep. The roots are not dug for use till the second year; and they are raised only when 
wanted, the pungent quality escaping rapidly as the root dries.” 
Qualities. — The root has a pungent odour, and a warm acrid taste, with a degree of sweetness. Both 
water and alcohol extract its virtues. By drying, it loses all its acrimony, becoming at first sweetish, and 
afterwards nearly insipid; if kept in a cool place, covered with sand, it retains its pungency for a long time. 
It yields, by distillation with water, a pale yellow-coloured, acrid, pungent, essential oil. According to 
Einhoff, the distilled watery liquid yields traces of sulphur. 
Medical Properties and Uses. — The use of the scraped root as a warm pungent condiment to 
various kinds of animal food, and also to give a zest to winter salads, is well known. As an article of the 
materia medica its effects much resemble those of mustard-seed, but it is somewhat more powerful. Infused 
in water, and received into the stomach, it acts as a stimulant and sudorific, and is occasionally em- 
ployed with advantage in paralytic affections and chronic rheumatism; it has also been successfully ad- 
