PENTANDRIA-DIGYNIA. Chaerophyllum. 47 



simple ; solitary or in pairs. Bracteas jagged. Petals in- 

 flexed at the point. 



S.Pecten-Veneris. Linn. Sp. Pl.368. Wilhl v. I.] 449. Fl.Br.324. 

 Engl. Bot. U.20. t. 1397. Curt. Lond. fasc. 5. ^ 21. Mart. Rust. 

 t.S8. Hook. Scot. 02. FL Dan. t.844! Jacq. Austr. t.263. Dod. 

 Pempt.70\.f. 



Scandix. Riv. Pentap. Irr. t. 38. 



S. seniine rostrato, vulgaris. Bauh. Pin. 152. Raii Sijn. 207. 



Myrrhis n. 754. Hall. Hist. v. 1. 330. 



Pecten Veneris. Matth. Falgr.v. 1.481./. Corner. Epit. 304./. 

 Bauh. Hist. v. 3.p.2.7\.f. Ger. Em. 1040./. 



In cultivated fields common. 



Annual. June — September, 



Root tapering. Stems 1 or more, simple or bushy, spreading, a 

 foot high, leafy, furrowed, smooth, or somewhat hairy, often pur- 

 plish. Leaves light green, triply pinnatifid, with linear, acute, 

 smooth segments. Footstalks dilated at the base, with mem- 

 branous hairy edges. Umbels small, mostly terminal, stalked, 

 in pairs, here and there solitary; with very short rays, over- 

 topped by the broad, cloven or jagged, white-edged bracteas. 

 Fl. in some degree radiant, especially those of the circumference, 

 which alone ripen seed, the innermost having no perfect germens. 

 Petals undivided, elliptic-lanceolate, acute, inflexed. Fruit be- 

 set with a few close bristles ; the beak, which is 1 1 or 2 inches 

 long, much more rough, especially at the edges, and crowned 

 with the purplish, enlarged, 5 -cleft receptacle of the flower, over- 

 topped by the straight upright stijlcs. 



This is sometimes a troublesome weed, to which, though slightly 

 aromatic and acrid, no particular use is attributed. Dioscorides, 

 indeed, mentions it as eatable j but his ^Kocvh^ may not be 

 ours. 



144. CH^ROPHYLLUM. Chervil. 



Linn. Gen. 143. Juss.220. FL Br. 325. Spreng. Prodr. 30. Lam. 

 ^ 201./. 1,2. Gartn.t. 23. 



Fl. imperfectly separated ; the innermost barren. Cal. none. 

 Pet. somewliat unequal, inversely heart-shaped, with an 

 inflexed point. Filam. thread-shaped, spreading, about 

 as long as the corolla. Anth. roundish. Germ, inferior, 

 oblong, slightly compressed, smooth. Styles short, awl- 

 shaped, a litde spreading, tumid at the base. Stigmas^ 

 simple. Fruit lanceolate, smooth and even, destitute oi 

 furrows or prominent ribs, with a short, angular, smooth 

 beak, crowned with the depressed wavy receptacle of the 

 flower, subtending the permanent, slightly recurved, styles. 



