PEXTAXDRIA— DIGYNIA. Ch.^rophyiluni. 47 



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

 jflexed at the point. 



S. Pecten-Veneris. Linn. Sp. PI.SG8. mild.v. \ .1449. Fl.Br.324. 



Engl. Bot. V. 20. t. 1397. Curt. Lond.fasc. 5.t.2l. Mart. Rust. 



t.3S. Hook. Scot. 92. FL Dan. t. 844. Jacq. Austr. t.263. Dad. 



Pempt.70\.f. 

 Scandix. Riv. Peniap. Irr. t. 38. 



S. semine rostrato, vulgaris. Bauh. Pin. 152. Rail Syn. 207- 

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

 Pecten Veneris. Matth. Valgr. v. 1. 481./. Carner. Epit. 304./. 



Bauh. Hist. V. 3. p. 2. 71 ./ 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. Fruithe- 

 set with a few close bristles ; the hcak, which is IJ 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 sf/jles. 



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

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

 indeed, mentions it as eatable ; but his S/caviS";^ may not be 

 ours. 



144. CH/EROPHYLLUM. Chervil. 



Linn. Gen. 143. Jm55. 220. FL Br. 325. Spreng. Prodr. 30. Lam. 

 f. 201./ 1,2. Gcortn. t.23. 



FL imperfectly separated; the innermost barren. O//. none. 

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

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

 as long as the corolla. AntJi. roundish. Genu, inferior, 

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

 shaped, a little .spreading, tumid at the l)ase. Stigmas 

 simple. Fruit lanceolate, smooth and even, destitute of 

 furrows or prominent rib.s, with a short, angular, smooth 

 beak, crowned witli the depressed wavy receptacle of the 

 flower, subtending the }K^rmanent, slightly recu!veil,.<^/y/t'5. 



