80 MEDICINAL HERBS AND POISONOUS PLANTS 



regarded with suspicion. The commoner members are 

 Apple, Pear, Mountaia Ash, HaAvthorn, Medlar, and 

 Cotoneaster. 



The TJmhelliferse or Hemlock Family. — A very important 

 group, and fortunately one that is easily identified if a 

 little care be taken. As the name implies, the flowers 



are placed at the end 

 of the rays of an 

 umbel] that is to say, 

 the stalks bearing the 

 floAvers are arranged 

 as are the rays of an 

 umbrella, radiating 

 from one point (fig 



.. utayrta-on/ UnhJ^- . 



'Bracts 



47). 



Usually each 



stalk of the um 



bel 



itself 



a 



little 



Fig. 47.— Dia'rrani of rnibelliferous Flower 



secondary umbel (fig 

 47), and each stalk of 

 the secondary umbel 

 carries a small flower 

 at the end of it For 



tlie identification of the order, the following points will 



be sufficient: 



1. Flowers arranged in umbels. 



2. Flowers white. 



3. Flowers with inferior ovary. 



All thi-ee points can easily be noted, but in some cases 

 it is not so easy to distinguish the individual species 

 from one another, because, superficially at any rate, a 

 large number of the species are veiy much alike. It is 

 necessary to distinguish the species with accuracy, for 

 the reason that the order includes medicinal and kitchen 

 herbs as well as danrrerons and nniRmimis r»lflntR. The 



