Garden Scurvy Grass.
Cochlearia hortensis.
A common wild plant about our sea coasts, but kept also in gardens for its virtues; it is a foot high: the stalks are round, weak, and green; the leaves that rise from the root make the most considerable appearance; they stand in a large tuft, and are of a roundish figure, and a bright green colour, tender, juicy, and supported on long and slender foot-stalks. There are but few leaves on the stalks, and they are not so round as those from the root, but are a little angular and pointed. The flowers stand at the tops of the stalks, in little clusters; they are white, small, and bright; they are succeeded by short roundish seed-vessels.
The fresh leaves are used, and the best way of all is to drink the pressed juice of them; this is excellent against the scurvy, and all other foulnesses of the blood. It may be mixed with Seville orange juice to make it pleasant, and should be taken every day for six weeks or two months together in spring.
