344

KITCHEN VEGETABLES.

of which, we understand, are still brought to the marketof Vienna , where the value of palatable things is understoodvery well, and where they are boiled and eaten with vinegarand oil. 7 lampion, the Phyteuma spicata of Kerner, wasformerly used in tiie same manner. The earth-nut, growingwild in many German districts, is, we have understood,still cultivated in Holland, and on the banks of the Rhine ,which Kerner calls Lathyrus tuberosus. Rocket, called bythe same naturalist, brassica eruca, in Italian ruchetta;also by Kerner, brass, erucastrum, the young leaves of whichwere formerly eaten as salad, but now no longer esteemed,partly on account of its nauseous smell, and partly on ac-count of its harsh taste, which resembles that of rancidbacon; it is, however, still retained in Italy , excitet utVeneri tardos eruca maritos.' Vetches, are also now ba-nished our gardens, anciently called lathyrus sativus, andcicera, experience having shown they were prejudicial tohealth. Pepper was once so dear, that if a religious de-votee promised a saint yearly a pound of it, it was lookedupon as a liberal bequest, when economical housewivesseasoned their dishes with the leaves of pepper-wort, lepi-dium latifolium, which on that account w..s called poormans pepper.

Borage, the borago officinalis of Kerner, since the four-teenth, or at least the fifteenth century, has been sown, notonly for medicinal purposes, but for the use of the table.The young leaves, which soon become hard, rough, andunlit for the table, are used in soup, whilst the beautifulblue flowers are put into salad and w'ine. This plant, or atleast its alleged virtues, were not known to the ancients,although it has been conjectured to have been what theycalled buglossum. It seems probable that it was not whatNicholas Myrepsus, who flourished in the beginning of thefourteenth century, names wovqaxiov, which has been thoughtto be borago: see the opinions of old botanists, collected inBauhini Hist. Plant, xxxiii. 2. p. 574. Some botanistshave conjectured the word is derived from corago, given byApuleius , as a synonym of buglosssum. It appears, fromwhat has been said on this name, that corago is the propername, deduced from the alleged property of the herb,strengthening and fortifying the heart; whence, we pre-sume, the custom of the cool tankard, consisting of winewith this herb infused, which it is usual for the keeper of the

1 Columella, x. 109. Virgil. Mention 85 : Vcnercm revgcans eruca liuorantem.