They are administered in substance, as a powder or electuary, in infusion as tea, in decoction or extract, or in the form of an essential oil obtained by distillation.
So fragrant is the camomile plant, that the places where it grows wild, on open gravelly commons, may easily be discovered by the somewhat strawberry-like perfume which is emitted by treading on them. This quality alone has sometimes induced the cultivation of camomile for a green walk in gardens.
216. TARRAGON (Artemisia dracunculus) is a hardy plant of the wormwood tribe, which grows wild in India and the southern parts of Europe, and is cultivated with us in gardens for culinary uses.
It has a somewhat shrubby stem; smooth, spear-shaped, leaves tapering at each end; and flowers roundish, erect, and on footstalks.
This is a hot and bitter vegetable, which is sometimes eaten with lettuces, or other salad herbs: and sometimes used as an ingredient in soup. Its seeds are pungent; and may be advantageously substituted for the more costly spices obtained from the Indies. The Indians frequently eat the leaves of the tarragon plant with bread.
The sauce called tarragon vinegar is made by infusing for fourteen days, one pound of the leaves of tarragon, gathered a short time before the flowers appear, in one gallon of the best vinegar: straining this through a flannel bag, and fining it by means of a little isinglass.
A distilled water is sometimes prepared from the leaves of tarragon.
FRUSTRANEA.
217. The JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE is a somewhat potatoe-shaped root, produced by a species of sunflower (Helianthus tuberosus) which grows wild in several parts of South America.
This plant bears single stalks, which are frequently eight or nine feet high, and yellow flowers, much smaller than those of the common sunflower.