CONIUM MACULATUM. ORD. VI. Umbellate. 105 
downwards; the partial involucrum is composed of three or four 
leaves; which are placed on the outer side of the radial stalk; the 
petals are five, oval, white, and curl inwards at their points; the 
stamina are five, white, about the length of the corolla, and 
crowned with whitish anthere; the styles are two, filiform, in- 
clining outwards, and terminated by round stigmata; the fruit is 
oval, striated, consisting of two irregularly hemispherical striated 
brownish seeds. This plant flowers in July, and is commonly 
found near dunghills and waste grounds.* It has a peculiar faint 
fetid smell, and a slight aromatic herbaceous, and somewhat nau- 
seous taste.” 
The common resemblance of most of the umbelliferous plants 
leads us to suspect, that they were very imperfectly distinguished 
by the ancients; for though the botanical description of the Kwvvr, 
given by Dioscorides, applies in great measure to this plant, yet it 
must be considered, that his description is without discrimination, 
and is, with a few exceptions, equally applicable to all the genera 
of plants composing the natural order of Umbellifere: so that the 
accounts given of Cicuta by ancient writers, should be admitted 
with great caution." Whether this species of hemlock was the 
poison usually administered at the Athenian executions, and which 
« << The Hemlock is obviously distinguished from our other umbelliferous plants 
by its Jarge and spotted stalk, by the dark and shining green colour of its bottom 
leaves, and particularly by their disagreeable smell when bruised, and which, 
according to Stderck, resembles that of mice.” Curt. Flor. Lond. The Chero- 
phyllum bulbosum has a spotted stem, but its swelled joints, and rough seeds, 
distinguish it from the hemlock, 
> Bergius. M. M. 194. Stoerck says, that the milky juice of the root is so 
extremely acrid and deleterious that a small drop or two of it being applied to his 
tongue produced great pain and swelling of that organ, and for some time deprived 
him of the power of speech._—TIn answer to this see note (*), 
© Haller refers it to the Cicuta virasa, ¢ The word Cicuta, with the 
ancients, seemed not indicative of any particular species of plant, but of poisonous 
vegetables in general. Vide Plinii Hist. Nat. L, 14. ¢. 5. L. 25. c, 13. 
No. 9. 2nd 
