apiace;e or umbellifer^e. 



THAPSIA. 



Calyx a 5-teothed edge. Petals elliptical, entire, acuminate, 

 with the point turned or rolled inwards. Fruit compressed from 

 the back. Half-fruits with 5 primary filiform ridges of which the 

 3 middle ones are at the back, the 2 lateral on the plane of the 

 commissure ; and 4 secondary the dorsal being filiform, the 

 lateral membranous winged entire. Channels beneath the se- 

 condary ridges each with lvitta. — Perennials. Leaves 1-2-3-pin- 

 nated, or decompound ; the petiole sheathing ; the upper leaves 

 often reduced to nothing but a petiole. Umbels ample, com- 

 pound, many-rayed. Involucres either present or absent decidu- 

 ous. Flowers yellow. 



113. T. villosa Linn, sp.pl. 375. DC. prodr. iv. 202. Lam. 

 illustr. t. 206. — On hills and in thickets in Portugal, Spain, 

 South of France, Barbary and Cyprus. 



Stem taper, smooth. Leaves tripinnated villous, as are the petioles ; 

 segments oblong, sinuated, pinnatifid, the lower deflexed. Involucres 

 scarcely any. — The roots are acrid and corrosive ; they were reputed 

 purgative in a high degree, but recent experiments seem to contradict 

 this assertion. Fee. 



114. T. Silphion Vivianiji. Libyc. p. 17. — T. garganica var ? 

 DC. prodr. iv. 202. — On the mountains of Cyrene. 



Root thick, fusiform. Stem erect, taper, furrowed, smooth. Cau- 

 line leaves with a large dilated amplexicaul petiole, pinnated ; leaflets 

 numerous, verticillate, sessile, 5-parted ; some of the segments simple, 

 others trifid and pinnatifid ; both leaflets and segments linear, long, 

 revolute at the edge, hairy on both sides. Umbels on the extremity of 

 the stem and branches, large, convex, many-rayed. Involucres and 

 involucels none when the plant is in fruit; partial umbels many-flowered. 

 Peduncles slender, smooth. Fruit very large, about 10 lines long, and 

 6 broad. Half-fruit linear, elliptical, rather thinner near the base, with 

 3-4 thick elevated ridges and a broad membranous satiny margin. 

 Viviani. — The Laser cyrenaicum or Asa dulcis of Cyrene, was a drug in 

 high reputation among the ancients for its medical uses ; it had miracu- 

 lous powers assigned to it ; to neutralise the effects of poison, to cure 

 envenomed wounds, to restore sight to the blind, and youth to the aged, 

 were only a part of its reputed properties ; it was also reckoned 

 antispasmodic, deobstruent, diuretic, &c. &c. So great was its reputa- 

 tion, that the princes of Cyrene caused it to be struck on the reverse 

 of their coins ; and the Cyrenean doctors were reckoned among the 

 most eminent in the world. Its value was estimated by its weight in 

 gold. Although such extravagant powers were absurdly ascribed to the 

 plant, there can be no doubt that it possessed some very active prin- 

 ciples, and accordingly it has always been a point of much interest to 

 determine what the plant was. It has been successively referred to Opo- 

 ponax, to Ferula tingitana, to Laserpitium Siler and gummiferum, and to 

 Thapsia Asclepium."But the discovery of this species on the mountains 



52 



