WILD OR PERENNIAL SPINACH.
Good King Henry. Tota Bona. Goose-foot. Blitum Bonus Henricus.
A hardy perennial plant, indigenous to Great Britain, and naturalized to a very limited extent in this country. Its stem is two feet and a half in height; the leaves are arrow-shaped, smooth, deep-green, undulated on the borders, and mealy on their under surface; the flowers are numerous, small, greenish, and produced in compact groups, or clusters; the seeds are small, black, and kidney-shaped.
Propagation and Culture.—"It may be propagated by seed sown in April or May, and transplanted, when the plants are fit to handle, into a nursery-bed. In August or September, they should be again transplanted where they are to remain, setting them in rows a foot apart, and ten inches asunder in the rows, in ground of a loamy nature, trenched to the depth of fifteen or eighteen inches, as their roots penetrate to a considerable depth. The following spring, the leaves are fit to gather for use; and should be picked as they advance, taking the largest first. In this way, a bed will continue productive for several years.
"Being a hardy perennial, it may also be increased by dividing the plant into pieces, each having a portion of the root and a small bit of the crown, which is thickly set with buds, which spring freely on being replanted.
"Most of the species of this genus, both indigenous and exotic, are plants of easy cultivation, and may be safely used as articles of food."—M'Int.