UMBELLIFER^. 313 



Order LIV. UMBELLIFER/E. 



Morison, Plantarum Umbelliferarum Distributio Nova, 5 (1672); Eay, 

 Methodus Plantarum, 47 (1703); Van Eoyen, Flora Leydensis Prod- 

 romus, 91 (1740); Haller, Hortus et Ager Gottingensis, 171 (1753); L. 

 Gerard, Flora Gallo-Provincialis, 230 (1761); Crantz, Inst. ii. 113 (1706); 

 Juss. Gen. 218 (1789). 



Herbs with mostly hollow, often striate, angled or fluted stems, mostly 

 compound leaves which are prevailingly alternate; the petiole dilated 

 or even sheathing at base. Flowers small, in simple or compoiind umbels 

 (sometimes sessile and therefore capitate). Calyx almost wholly adnate 

 to the 2-celled ovary. Petals 5, mostly valvate in bud, usxially inflexed at 

 apex in flower. Stamens 5, epigynous, alternate with the petals; anthers 

 ovate, subdidymous. Styles 2, simple, more or less dilated at base into 

 a stylupodinin. Fruit of 2 closely approximated and often ribbed, some- 

 times winged, always 1-seeded carpels; the intervals between the ribs 

 usually occupied by one or more oil-tubes or viUx. The face by which 

 the two carpels meet or partly cohere is called the commissure. A 

 slender prolongation of the axis between these faces is called a carpo- 

 phore, which, in maturity, is apt to split into 2 branches, with a carpel 

 suspended from each. —An extensive and very natiiral family, of con- 

 siderable economic imijortance, on account of the wholesome fleshy roots 

 of some species, the aromatic seeds of others, and the medical properties 

 inherent in many. The green herbage in many is acrid and poisonous; 

 the rootstocks, tuberous roots, etc., of the half-aquatic species are dan- 

 gerous to cattle and horses that are apt to feed on them in early spring. 



Hint« of tlie (lienera,. 



Umbels simple, or imperfectly or irregularly compound; 



Leaves simple, neither spinosely nor setaceously toothed, - - 1, 2 

 " spinosely toothed, or lobed or parted, - _ . . 3 j. 



Umbels regularly compound; leaves compound, often finely dissected; 



Ribs of the carpels with barbed or hooked prickles, - - 28, 29 



Fruit more or less flattened laterally, broadly ovate or subglobose 

 or elliptic-oblong, not broadly winged; 



Oblong or rounded; ribs filiform or prominent; oil- 

 tubes 2 or 3 in the intervals, . - - . . 5 

 Broadly ovate ; ribs prominent, obtuse ; oil-tubes none, 6 

 Ovate or oblong ; ribs prominent, corky, oil-tubes 1 — 3, 7, 8 

 Very small ; ribs not prominent ; oil-tubes 1 to the 



interval, --.---... 10, 11 

 Ovate or oblong ; ribs filiform ; oil-tubes 1 or 2 to the 



interval, - - - - - -* - - - 12, 13 



Ovate, with broad commissure; ribs rather prominent; 



oil-tubes 1—3, -------- 14—16 



Linear or linear-oblong, rather large, not winged, - 22, 25—27 

 Fruit not compressed ; ribs corky, rounded, ------ 9 



" somewhat compressed dorsally ; some of the ribs narrowly 



winged, - - - - -,- 17, 18 



