The Family Kitchen Gardener (1856)/Scurvy Grass

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SCURVY GRASS.

Cochleària officinàlis.—Cranson officinal, Fr.—Loffelkraut, Ger.

Common on the sea coasts of Europe, and not unfrequent in mountainous countries, far inland. It is biennial, and propagated from seed sown in the Spring, or by parting the roots and planting them in a light, moist soil. This plant has a warm, acrid, bitter taste, and a pungent, rather unpleasant smell when bruised. It has been considered as one of the most effectual of all the antiscorbutics, when eaten as a salad with Water Cress, &c.