Earth-Chesnut, or Earth-Nut.
Botanical name:
Bulbocastanum.
(I'm not sure if this is Conopodium majus or Bunium bulbocastanum. -Henriette.) A COMMON wild plant, which has the name from its root. This is of the bigness of a chesnut, roundish, brown on the outside, and white within, and of sweet taste. The plant grows to a foot high; the leaves are divided into fine and numerous partitions; the stalk is firm, upright, round, striated and green; the flowers are white and little, but they grow in great tufts on the tops of the branches.
The root is the part used; it is to be roasted in the manner of a chesnut and eaten, it is said to have great virtues as a provocative to venery, but this is not well confirmed.
