The Botanist's Companion, Volume II: Or an Introduction to the Knowledge of Practical Botany, and the Uses of Plants. Either Growing Wild in Great Britain, or Cultivated for the Puroses of Agriculture, Medicine, Rural Oeconomy, or the ArtsSalisbury, William
Science
The Botanist's Companion, Volume II: Or an Introduction to the Knowledge of Practical Botany, and the Uses of Plants. Either Growing Wild in Great Britain, or Cultivated for the Puroses of Agriculture, Medicine, Rural Oeconomy, or the Arts
Salisbury, William
Plants -- Great Britain
Ignorant yet of the cause of their comrade's death, and of their own
danger, they gave of these roots to the other eight prisoners, who all
ate some of them with their dinner: the quantity could not be
ascertained. A few minutes after, the remaining two who gathered the
plant were seized in the same manner as the first; of which one died:
the other was bled, and a vomit forced down, on account of his jaws
being as it were locked together. This operated, and he recovered; but
he was for some time affected with a giddiness in his head; and it is
remarkable, that he was neither sick nor in the least disordered in his
stomach. The others being bled and vomited immediately, were secured
from the approach of any bad symptoms. Upon examination of the plant
which the French prisoners mistook for wild celery, Mr. Howell discovered
it to be this plant, which grows very plentifully in the neighbourhood
of Haverfordwest.
Although the above account, which Mr. Wilmer has so minutely described,
seems well attested, and corroborated by the above gentleman, yet I was
informed by the late Mr. Adams, comptroller of the Customs at Pembroke,
that the Oenanthe does not, that he could find, grow in that part of the
country; but that what the above unfortunate French officers did
actually eat was the wild Celery, which grows plentifully in all the wet
places near that town. I take the liberty of mentioning this
circumstance; as it will serve to keep in mind the fact, that celery,
when found wild, and growing in wet places, shold be used cautiously, it
being in such situations of a pernicious tendency. For such whose
curiosity may lead them to become acquainted with the Oenanthe crocata,
it grows in plenty near the Red House in Battersea fields on the Thames'
bank. The water-courses on the marsh at Northfleet have great quantities
of the Apium graveolens growing in them.
Plantae affines.
Cultivated celery differs from it when young, first in the shape and
size of its roots. The Oenanthe is perennial, and has a large root, which
on being cut is observed to be full of juice, which exudes in form of
globules. The celery, on the contrary, has roots in general much
smaller, particularly when in a wild state.
The leaves of celery have somewhat the same flavour, but are smaller;
the nerves on the lobes of the leaves are also very prominent, and
somewhat more pointed.
When the two plants are in bloom, a more conspicuous difference is
apparent in the involucrum and seeds, the character of which should be
consulted.
It may be mistaken for Parsley; but it is both much larger in foliage
and higher in growth; it is also different from it in the shape of the
roots.
These are the two plants most likely to be confounded with it. But the
student should also consult the difference existing between this plant
and the following, which, although somewhat alike in appearance, may be
confounded.
Angelica.
Chervil.
Alexanders.
Hemlock.
Skirret.
Cow Parsley.
Lovage.
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