CICUTA. 



verse internal partitions. Stem 2 or 3 feet high, hollow, leafy, branched, 

 furrowed, smooth. Leaves on long footstalks, thrice ternate, bright 

 green ; leaflets sharply and deeply serrated, tapering at each end, from 

 1 to 2 inches long, slightly decurrent ; those of the upper leaves more 

 narrow. Umbels large, many-rayed, stalked, partly terminal, partly 

 opposite the leaves ; partial ones of very numerous slender rays. General 

 bracts if present very narrow, and seldom more than 1 or 2 ; but for 

 the most part entirely wanting ; partial several, narrow, taper-pointed, 

 unequal. Anthers and styles purplish. Styles bowed, recurved, as long 

 as the fruit, their bases finally a little tumid, and confluent with the 

 receptacle. Fruit spherical, compressed, almost black, smooth, with 

 the dorsal ridges very obscure, and scarcely more than slightly elevated 

 angles. Commissure flat, circular, smaller than the half-fruits. — A 

 dangerous poison, producing effects similar to those of hydrocyanic 

 acid. It appears to cause true tetanic convulsions in frequent pa- 

 roxysms, and death on the third day. Chrislison. Haller considered it 

 the conium of the Greeks. It appears to be fatal to cattle. 



APIUM. 



Calyx obsolete. Petals roundish, entire. Disk depressed. 

 Fruit roundish, contracted at the side, double. Half-fruits with 

 5 filiform equal ridges, of which the laterals form the border. 

 Dorsal channels with single vittie, lateral with 2-3. — Herba- 

 ceous plants with the root thickened at the neck. Stem fur- 

 rowed, branched. Leaves pinnated, with wedge-shaped cut 

 segments. Umbels axillary or nearly sessile on the apex of the 

 stalk. No involucres. Flowers greenish white. 



72. A. graveolens Linn. sp. pi . 379. Eng. Sot. t. 1210. — 

 Marshes all over Europe, the Caucasus, Mexico, Falkland Is- 

 lands. (Celery.) 



Smooth. Leaves pinnated, the upper 3-parted; lobes wedge-shaped, 

 cut and toothed at the apex. — When wild, growing in wet meadows 

 and in ditches, it is acrid and poisonous; when cultivated in dry ground, 

 and partially blanched, it is the celery well known as a salad. 



PETROSELINUM. 



Calyx obsolete. Petals roundish, incurved, entire, scarcely 

 emarginate, contracted into an inflexed lobe. Disk short, con- 

 ical, somewhat crenulate. Styles diverging. Fruit ovate, con- 

 tracted at the side. Half-fruits with 5 filiform equal ridges, of 

 which the laterals form the border. Channels with 1 vitta, 

 commissure with 2. — Smooth branched herbs. Leaves decom- 

 pound with wedge-shaped segments. Involucres few-leaved ; 

 involucels many-leaved. Flowers white or greenish, uniform, 

 those of the disk often sterile. Stamens longer than the corolla. 



73. P. sativum Hoffm. umb. i. t. i. f. 2. Nees andJEberm.pl. met/. 

 t. 283. handb. iii. 34. — Apium Petroselinum Linn. sp. pi. 379. 

 35 D 2 



