196 PfiNTANDRIA. DIGYNIA. 



A genus indigenous to Europe, Northern A^lca and 

 North America, 



582. ^THASPIUM.f 



Fruit subclliptic. Seed convex witl> 5 alated 

 j-idgcs, al» subequal; intervals grooved. Invo- 

 lucre none. Inxolucell about 3-leaved, unila- 

 teral? 



Flowers mostly xellow, many of them infertile. Styles 

 divaricate. (Jalix o-tootheti; petals involute, acuminate. 

 Leaves pseudo-ternate or biternate, radical ones some- 

 linies entire, margin serrated or toothed, rarely entire. 

 Each of the umbells usually coming out opposite a leaf, 

 in some species terminal. 



§ I. Umbells opposite the leaves,- stems nearly simple. 

 Species. 1. 'i'. aureum. Leaflets ovate -lanceolate, acute, 

 serrate, lateral divisions of the upper leaves subsessile; in- 

 voUiccll 3-leaved, unilateral; calix 5-toothed, all the ridges 

 of the Seed winged. Smyrnium aureum. Ph. 2. atropurpii- 

 reiim. Leaves serrate, radical often subcordate, uppermost 

 leniate, middle leaflet conspicuously petiolate, leaflets 

 ovate-acute; flowers dark purple. Obs. Radical leaves 

 mostly entire, upon long peduncles; involucell 3-leaved, 

 unilateral, often wanting. Calix 5-toothed, obvious. Pe- 

 tals oblong acuminate, involute, at first greenish. Styles 

 filiform, divaricate, long as the fruit. Fruit small elliptic, 

 with 10 whitish alated ridges. — Leaves often elegantly ma- 

 culated with angular paler coloured blotches. Smyrnium 

 atropiirpureum. Ph. Hab. Not uncommon in the vicinity 

 of Philadelphia. 



§ II. Umbells terminal; stem dichotomous. 

 3. T. harbiiiode. JJgnsticum barbinode, Mich. Fl. Amei*. 

 p. 167. Lower lea\es subtrlternate, upper biternate; 

 leaflets cuneaie-ovate, acute or acuminate, unequally and 

 inciselv serrate, entire towards the base; umbells diclioto- 

 mal and terminal; involucell subulate, unilateral, 3-leaved; 

 fruit elliptic, 7 of the ridges alternately broader. — Obs. 

 Koot ppicnnial. Stem 3 feet high, dichotomous, angular, 

 and grooved, smooth, excepting a minute pubescence at 

 ihe nodes, common in this and other genera. Leaves 

 smooth, floral ones subopposite, all upon longish petioles, a 

 little scabrous and whitish on the margin, serratures deep, 



\ From the isle of 'J'haspia, which gave name to the Thapsia 

 of the ancients, in allusion to its affinity with that genus. It is 

 the Cnidixim of Cusson, a name now more properly employed 

 ibr another genus. 



