CHAP. I.] ARALIACEiE. 379 



Cow Parsnep {H. asperum)^ are perfectly mag- 

 nificent objects. Notwithstanding the ease with 

 which these plants may generally be recognised, 

 as in some of the allied orders the flowers grow 

 in umbels or cymes, it may be necessary to remark 

 that Dr. Lindley defines umbelliferous plants 

 to consist of those which have their '• flowers 

 growing in umbels, with inferior fruit, which, 

 when ripe, separates, or may be separated, into 

 two grains."" Thus the common Dogwood is 

 not an umbelliferous plant, though its flowers 

 grow in umbels, because its fruit is a berry. 



ORDER XCIX.— ARALIACE^. 



The most interesting plant in this order is 

 Hedera Helix, the common Ivy ; a well-known 

 climbing evergreen shrub, which throws out 

 roots from its branches at intervals, which it 

 strikes ■ into any substance to which it can ad- 

 here. The flowers have all their parts in five 

 or ten divisions ; even the lower leaves, which 

 are smooth and leathery, are five-lobed. The 

 leaves on the flowering branches, which are 

 always in the upper part of the plant, are en- 

 tire. The flowers are produced in umbels, and 

 they are succeeded by berries, which, in corre- 

 spondence with the parts of the flowers, are five 

 or ten celled. The large-leaved variety, called 



