The plants will require no special protection or care during the winter; though a slight covering of strawy, stable litter may be applied after the forking-over of the bed in the autumn, just before the closing-up of the ground.
Use.—It enters into most of the soups and sauces for which French cookery is so famed, and they preserve it in quantities for winter use. It forms as prominent an article in the markets of Paris as does Spinach in those of this country; and it has been asserted, that, amongst all the recent additions to our list of esculent plants, "we have not one so wholesome, so easy of cultivation, or one that would add so much to the sanitary condition of the community, particularly of that class who live much upon salt provisions."
The species and varieties are as follow:—
Alpine Sorrel.
Oseille des Neiges. Vil. Rumex nivalis.
A new, perennial species, found upon the Alps, near the line of perpetual snow. The root-leaves are somewhat heart-shaped, thick, and fleshy; stem simple, with verticillate branches; flower diœcious.
It is one of the earliest as well as the hardiest of the species, propagates more readily than Alpine plants in general, and is said to compare favorably in quality with the Mountain Sorrel or Patience Dock.
Common Sorrel.
R. acetosa.
This is a hardy perennial, and, when fully grown, is about two feet in height. The flowers—which are small, very numerous, and of a reddish color—are diœcious, the fertile and barren blossoms being produced on separate plants; the seeds are small, triangular, smooth, of a brownish color, and retain their germinative properties two years. An ounce contains nearly thirty thousand seeds.