/ 



PENTANDRIA. DIGYNIA. Heracleum. 591 



Fields about Port Gwylan, Caernarvonshire, covered with it. 



Penn. Wales, ii. SCO. P. Aug.* 



HERACLE'UM. Invohcr. shedding : Moss, irre- 

 gular; petals bent inwards, notched at the 

 end : seeds compressed, leaf-like, smooth, en- 

 compassed by a narrow membranaceous 

 border. 



I 



H. Leafits wing-cleft, even : flowers radiated. 



Sphondy- 



Knipb. ll~Blackw. 54Q-+Ri*v. pent. 4. Sphond~R. ox. ix. 1'ium. 



/• 



2-; ic. i. 



* 701. 2-Ger. em. IQOQ-Parl. 953~Pet. 24. l-Park. 954. 

 3-Matth. 79\-Fuchs. 53- J. B. iii. 2. \60-Trag. 437. 



Leaf- s talis spreading out at the base into a kind of bags, 

 scored, membranaceous, woolly at the edges, and in its younger 

 state sheathing and inclosing the fruit-stalks and umbels. Stem* 

 leaves winged, hairy ; leafits about 2 pair, jagged, and indented, 

 the odd one cloven into 3. Outer florets radiated, central ones 

 nearly equal. Seeds with 3 ridges on each side. Flowers white. 



Cow Parstiep. Madnep. Hogweed. Parsnep Hogweed. Hedges, 



meadows, pastures. 



B. July.t 



Var. 2. narrow-leaved. Little-leaves spear-shaped. St. 



Jacq. austr. IJA-Pluk. 63. 3-Pet. 24. 2-Park. 954. 2. 



I have found the root-leaves oi this and of H. Sphondy I. rising 

 from the same root. Leaves winged ; wings with mostly J 

 lobes ; lower-lobes long, and standing nearly at right angles give 

 the cross-like appearance ; lobes strap-spear-shaped, deeply and 

 doubly serrated. Mr. Woodward. 



* Poor people on the sea-coast eat it as a pot-herb, and gather it for 

 sale, it being much used as a pickle.— Sheep and Cows eagerly feed, and 

 are said to grow fat, upon it. Penn. *6. 



+ In Poland and Lithuania, the poor people prepare a liquor from the 

 leaves and seeds ; which undergoes a fermentation, and is drank instead of 

 ale. — The stalks, when peeled, are eaten by the Kamschatkians. — The 

 Russians take the leaf-stalks of the root-leaves, peel them, and hang them 

 ,n the sun to dry a little ; then they tie them in little bundles, and hang 

 Jhern up again till they become yellow : in this state they put them into 

 bags, and a mealy substance like sugar forms upon the surface of them. 

 This they shake off, and treat their guests with it as a great delicacy. 

 'hey likewise distil an ardent spirit from it. Gmelin sibir. i. p. 214. At- 

 tempts have been made to manufacture sugar from this plant which the 

 Kamschatkians call Ratsch (*weet-herb,) but forty pounds of the dried 

 stalks only yielded a quarter of a pound of the powder sugar. The peel- 

 "Jgs of the stalks are acrid. — The leaves are a favourite food of Rabbits, 



*%s and Asses. Cows, Goats, and Sheep eat them: but Horses arc 

 ^tondofthem. 



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