[Sca-cooks] Hartshorn plantain

[Johnna Holloway]

There were several postings regarding hartshorn recently.
I came across this mention today that gave me pause:
Markham in The English Housewife (the Michael Best edited
edition on page 62) in the summary of plants that are to be sown in
March at the wane of the moon lists:
"At the wane, .... cucumbers, hartshorn, samphire...
Best includes in  footnote 13 on page 253 that:
Hartshorn was "a name given to serveral wild plants, most commonly
Plantago coronpus, hartshorn plantain; the mystery as to why such a 
plant should be cultivated
in the housewife's garden is solved by reference to Markham's source.
In Maison Rustique the plant is "corne de boeuf." Hartshorn is given
by Corgrave (1611) as the translation of "corne de cerf." "Corne boeuf"
is translated as the more probable "herb fenugreek."

Johnnae llyn Lewis