Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Marjoram

MARJORAM, or Origanum, L. a genus of perennial plants, comprising 14 species: of these, one only is indigenous, namely, the vulgare, Common, Wild, or Field Marjoram, which grows in thickets and hedges; it flowers in the months of July and August.

This plant delights in a calcareous soil, and is easily propagated either by its seed, or by slips of the roots. It is a fragrant aromatic, has a pungent, spicy taste, and is much esteemed for culinary purposes; especially for imparting a fine flavour to broths.—The dried leaves are uncommonly grateful, and are sometimes used as a substitute for tea.—An essential, but extremely acrid, oil is expressed from this herb, and which is often employed by farriers as a caustic.—If a little cotton wool, moistened with such oil, be introduced into the hollow of an aching tooth, it frequently tends to relieve the pain.—The whole plant, excepting the root, when boiled in water, imparts a bright red and deep brown colour to wool, especially if the latter be frequently taken out of the liquor, and properly beaten. But, if linen is to be dyed of a purple colour, it ought to be previously steeped in alum water, then immersed for 48 hours in a decoction made of the bark of the crab-tree.—In Germany, the dried herb is occasionally suspended in a cask of beer, with a view to correct its tart or acid taste.—Goats and sheep eat its leaves and stalks; but they are not relished by horses; and totally refused by cows.