PENTANDRIA. DiGYMi. 193 



pid; commissure sulcate; receptacular axis se- 

 raibiful; st^'le subulate, persistent, terminating 

 the fruit. Universal involucrum none. 



Uinbell compound, wUh 5 or more rays. General in- 

 volucrum wanting. Partial involucrum 5-leaved, entire; 

 umbellets many-flowered; masculine florets often double 

 the number of those which are fertile. Calix obsolete. 

 Petals oblong-, emarginately inflected. Leaves biter- 

 nate, somewhat pseudo-tripinnate, margin incisely-toothed; 

 young plants canchcently pilose, at length nearly smooth. 

 Sweet and aromatic, odor anisate; seed tasteless. 



Species. 1. U. Clarjtom. Scandix Clai/toni^ Mich. 

 Obs. Root perennial. Siems about a foot high, striated, 

 always more or les pubescent, but at first of a hoary white- 

 ness. Leaves only about 2 on each stem; ternate, witli 

 the subdivisions from 3 to 5-leaved; ter.Dmal leaflets 

 rhomboidal, acute, lateral ones more irregular and ob- 

 long, sometimes subpinnatifidly lobed, but generally in- 

 cisely toothed, dentures mosUy obtuse wiih a small point. 

 Umbells axillaiy ard ternrinal, rays about 5. Involucrum 

 wanting, or of 1 or 2 small leaves. Umbellets small, ex- 

 terior hermapiu'odite flowers about 5, males about 10, 

 all peduncidate, peduncles of Vae male-flowers capillary; 

 involucell 5-leaved, linear -lanceolate, acuminate, soon 

 after flowering deflected. Stj les filiform, as long as the 

 germ, erect and divaricate, with inconspicuous stigmas, 

 tierm distinctly villous towards the base. No vestige of 

 a calix. Fruit linear-lanceolate, black and shining, subu- 

 lated, but without rostrum. Seed caudate, (an inch in 

 length, including the cauda, which is about 3 lines long) 

 acutely quadrangular, without either ribs or striae; inter- 

 vals flat and even, <:uticle minutely punctate, cauda, and 

 more sparingly the angles of the seed aculeateiy hispid. — 

 Hab. Near Philadelphia, on the shady banks of 'he Schuyl- 

 kill. The whole plant, excepting the seed which is per- 

 fectly tasteless, possesses nearly the same sweet and aro- 

 matic odor as Myi^his odorcua, to which it bears some 

 resemblance. — If Sisoji canademe is to be considered a 

 genuine Myrrhis, and Scandix procwnhens and .S*. cerefo- 

 Uuni as examples of Chderophyllum, I could not for a mo- 

 ment hesitate to separate from both these genera, the 

 Jlft/rrMs Claytoni of Michaux, not however without a sus- 

 pi<;ion of its aflftnity to M. odorata. 

 s 



