Cochlearia
(from cochlear, a spoon; the leaves of most species are hollowed, like the bowl of a spoon). Scurvy Grass; Spoonwort. ORD. Cruciferoe. Annual or perennial herbs, usually smooth and fleshy. Racemes terminal; pedicels bractless, spreading, filiform or some-what angular. Leaves very variable; radical ones usually stalked; cauline ones often auriculate-sagittate. There are about twenty-five species, widely distributed over the temperate and cold regions of the Northern hemisphere. Cochlearias are of the simplest culture in ordinary garden soil, but scarcely any are worth growing for ornament. Propagated by seeds (which are produced freely by most of the species), sown in the open air, in early spring.
C. Armoracia (Horse-Radish). fl. white, with a spreading calyx. May. l., radical ones large, oblong, crenated; cauline ones elongated, lanceolate, toothed or cut. Root large, flesy. h. 2ft. Eastern temperate Europe (naturalised in Britain). For detailed culture, see Horse-Radish. C. officinalis (officinal). Common Scurvy Grass. fl. white. Spring. l., radical ones stalked, cordate; cauline ones ovate, toothed, angular. h. 2in. to 12in. Cold regions of northern hemisphere. A pretty early spring-flowering biennial. It is a valuable anti-scorbutic.