Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Orache

ORACHE, or Atriplex, L. a genus of plants, comprising seventeen species; of which the following are the principal, and indigenous:

1. The porlulacoides, Shrubby-Orache, or Sea-Purslane; growing on sea-shores; flowering in the months of July and August.—It may be easily propagated from cuttings; as it requires but little culture, and thrives well if planted in a poor gravelly soil, vhere it seldom attains above two and a half, or three feet in height, and becomes very bushy: hence it is well adapted for gardens, among other low shrubs, where it displays a very pleasing appearance.—Being a marine vegetable, its ashes contain a large proportion of alkaline salt, and may, therefore, be usefully substituted for soap.

2. The hastata, Wild Orache, Fat-hen, or Lamb's Quarters, which grows on rubbish, dunghills, and in kitchen-gardens: it flowers in the months of August and September.—This plant is sometimes used as a substitute for spinach and other greens, though it is not relished by cows, goats, sheep, or swine.

3. The laciniata, or Frosted-orache, which thrives on sea-shores, and flowers in July or August.—The fruit of this annual plant contains a viscid yellow juice which, according to Schoepp, a respectable German writer on pharmacy, possesses similar properties with the exotic drug, termed Gummi-Guttæ. Hence it may be substituted for the latter, as a very powerful purgative in cases, where aqueous humours are to be evacuated: namely, in obstinate quartan agues, the humid asthma, melancholy, and especially in the dropsy: it may be given in conserves, pills, or powders, from four to eight grains for a dose.