HORSERADISH: HISTORY
Cochlearia armoracia CRUCIFERAE
Authorities differ as to the correct botanical name for this herb; some of the confusion seems due to its variation in leaf shape and habit of growth, the Encyclopaedia Britannica referring to it as Armoracia rusticana, but Culpeper, and many later writers such as Clare Loewenfeld, who has the famous Chiltern Herb Nursery in Surrey, England, call it Cochlearia armoracia. It is even more confusing when it is occasionally called “Scurvy Grass”, which is another plant altogether (Cochlearia officinalis), but as far as I can discover all the names refer to the same old pungent horseradish we serve with the roast beef.
The plant is a native of the muddy swamps near the seaside in Mediterranean areas, and it likes a cool, moist situation with deeply dug soil, free from stones or other rubbish, so that the tap root, the important part of the plant, can grow down deep and strong, unimpeded in its search for nourishment.
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