It is a hardy annual, with an erect, four-sided stem from two to four feet high, and opposite, lobed, or entire leaves; the flowers terminate the stalk in loose spikes, and are of a dingy-white color; the seeds are oval, flattened, and produced in an oblong, pointed capsule.
Propagation and Cultivation.—It is propagated from seeds, which should be sown in spring, as soon as the ground has become well settled. They may be sown where the plants are to remain; or in a nursery-bed, to be afterwards transplanted. The plants should be grown in rows eighteen inches or two feet apart, and about a foot apart in the rows. The after-culture consists simply in keeping the ground loose, and free from weeds. The plant is said to yield a much greater amount of herbage if the top is broken or cut off when it is about half grown.
Use.—"The seeds were at one time used for food; being first parched, then mixed with water, and afterwards stewed with other ingredients. A sort of pudding is made of the seeds, in the same manner as rice; and is by some persons much esteemed. From the seeds of the first-named sort an oil is extracted, which will keep many years without having any rancid smell or taste. In two years, the warm taste which the new oil possesses wears off, and it becomes quite mild and pleasant, and may be used as a salad-oil, or for all the purposes of olive-oil. Two quarts of oil have been extracted from nine pounds of the seeds."
The properties of the plant are cooling and healing, with some degree of astringency. A few of the leaves, immersed a short time in a tumbler of water, give it a jelly-like consistence, without imparting color or flavor; and in this form it is generally used.
There are three varieties:—
Biformed-Leaved. Mill.
Plant larger than that of the Oval-leaved; the lower leaves are three-parted, while those of the upper part of the stalk are oval or entire.
Oval-Leaved.
Stem about two feet high, with a few short branches; the leaves are oblong, and entire on the borders.
Trifid-Leaved. Mill.