236 
side. Embryo minute, hanging from the top of the carpophore, 
and’ therefore the radicle is superior; cotyledons 2, oblong, 
changing into seminal leaves through germination.—Herbs or 
subshrubs. Roots various, but often fusiform. Stems cylin- 
drical or angular, simple or branched, annual or perennial, with 
the bark or skin usually full of aromatic resinous gum; medulla 
in some, as in Férula, large, with medullary fibres in its sub- 
stance, similar to the stems of monocotyledonous plants. Leaves 
alternate, very rarely opposite, except the seminal ones, usually 
divided into various segments ; petioles usually sheathing at the 
base: in some, as in the genus Bupleùrum, the petioles are 
changed into phyllodia, as in the section of Acdcia called Phyl- 
lodineez. Flowers umbellate, white, yellow, pink, or blue, often 
with either the styles or stamens abortive, monoecious, dioecious, 
or polygamous, and some of them sterile. Umbels usually per- 
fect, both general and partial, in both the rays are numerous, 
the general umbel usually surrounded by an involucrum, and the 
partial ones by an involucel. 
FIG. 54. 
Paw Zs 
Umbellifere hardly differs from Aralidcee, the next order. 
With Saxifragdcee it agrees in habit, if Hydrocétyle is compared 
with Chrysosplénium, and if the sheathing and divided leaves of 
the two orders are considered. To Geraniàceæ, De Candolle 
remarks, that they are allied in consequence of the cohesion of 
the carpella around a woody axis, and of the umbellate flowers, 
which grow opposite the leaves, and also because the affinity of 
Geraniacee to Vitis, and of the latter to Aralidcee, is not to 
be doubted. The arrangement of this order has only within a 
few years arrived at any very definite state; the characters upon 
which genera and tribes could be formed, were for a long while 
unsettled ; it is, however, now generally admitted, that the num- 
ber and developement of the ribs of the fruit, the presence or 
absence of the reservoirs called vittee, and the form of the albu- 
men, are the leading peculiarities, which require to be attended 
to. The plants are chiefly extra-tropical, inhabiting groves, 
thickets, plains, marshes, and waste places. 
The properties of this order require to be considered under 
two points of view; firstly, those of the vegetation; and se- 
condly those of the fructification, The character of the former 
generally is suspicious, and often poisonous in a high degree ; 
as in the case of hemlock, fool’s-parsley, -water-hemlock, and 
others, which are deadly poison. Nevertheless, the blanched 
petioles and stems of celery, the leaves of parsley and samphire, 
the roots of skirret, the carrot, the parsnip, the arracacha, and 
the tubers of Œnánthe pimpinelloides, and Banium bulbocés- 
À 
5 re Susporper I. 
af 
UMBELLIFERÆ. 
tanum, are wholesome articles of food. The fruit, vulgarly 
called the seeds, is in no case dangerous, and is usually a warm 
and agreeable aromatic, as caraway, coriander, dill, anise, &e, 
From the stem, when wounded, sometimes flows a stimulant, 
tonic, aromatic, gum-resinous concretion, of much use in medi- . 
cine ; as opopanax, which is produced from Opépanazx Chirdnium 
in the Levant, and assafcetida from the Férula of that name in 
Persia. Gum ammoniac is obtained from Doréma Ammonia- 
It is a gum resin of a pale yellow colour, having a 
faint, but not unpleasant, smell, with a bitter nauseous taste. 
Internally applied, it is a valuable deobstruent, and expectorant. 
It is said by Dr. Paris to be, in combination with rhubarb, a 
useful medicine in mesenteric affections, by correcting viscid 
secretions. (Ainslie 1. p. 160.) The substance called galbanum 
is produced by Gélbanum officindle, a plant of this order. 
It is a stimulant of the intestinal canal and uterus, and is 
found to allay that nervous irritability, which often accom- 
panies hysteria. (Ainslie 1. p. 143.). Æthùsa cyndpium has 
been found by Professor Ficinus, of Dresden, to contain a pe- 
culiar alkali, which he calls Cynapia. (Turner, p. 654.) The 
fruit of Ligtsticum Ajamain of Roxb. the Ptychdtis Ajowan of 
D. C. is prescribed in India in diseases of horses and cows. 
(Ainslie i. p. 38.) The Prángos pabularia is a valuable fodder- 
plant in Thibet. 
cum. 
Synopsis of the genera. 
Ortuosrr’rme. Albumen flat or flattish in- 
side, neither involute nor convolute. 
§ 1. Umbels simple or imperfect. Fruit destitute of vittæ. 
ERIBE I. 
Hyprocory’tex. Fruit contracted from the sides ; mericarps 
convex or acute on the back: with the 5 primary ribs at length 
obsolete: lateral ones marginating or in the commissure, which 
is flat ; intermediate usually more than carinal. Petals entire. 
1 Hyprocérytz. Margin of calyx obsolete ; and the tube 
rather compressed. Petals ovate, with a straight point. Fruit 
biscutate. Mericarps with 5 filiform ribs: carinal and lateral 
ones often obsolete : the 2 intermediate ones joined.—Involu- 
crum few-leaved. 
2 Cra'nrzia. Tube of calyx subglobose ; limb very short, 
hardly any. Petals roundish, obtuse. Fruit roundish. Meri- 
carp unequal, with 3-5 filiform ribs. Vittee 1 in each furrow 
and 2 in the commissure.—Involucrum 5-6-leaved. 
3 Dimetoria. Teeth of calyx obsolete. Petals oval-oblong- 
Styles short. Fruitdidymous. Mericarps somewhat contracted 
at the commissure, unequal, one muricated with tubercles, and 
the other echinated with conical prickles.—Involucrum of 5 
linear leaves. 
4 Ericr’y1a. Margin of calyx obsolete. Petals equal, obo- 
vate. Styles long. Fruit oval, laterally compressed. Meri- 
carps gibbously convex, marked by 3 stripes. Commissure nar- 
row, flat.—Umbels imperfect. True involucrum none, but in 
place of it there is a multifid leaf, Involucels of a few unequal 
leaflets. 
