CLASS V. ORUEK H.] .i:THCSA. 379 



I'DUiulisli. General involucre various, partial of three pendent 

 segments.— Niune from cx-i^u, to hum ; on account of its acrid 

 quality. 



1. yE". Cj/na'pium, Linn. (Fig. 441.) common FooPs Parsley, or 

 lesser Hemlock. Leaves uniform; leaflets wedge-shaped, decurrent, 

 with lanceolate segments; partial involucre of three segments, longer 

 than the rays. 



English Botany, t. 1192. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 64. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 132. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 119. 



Root tapering, and with long slender fihres. Stem erect, from 

 twelve to eighteen inches high, erect, round, smooth, striated, branched 

 above and leafy, frequently purplish. Leaves alternate, on short 

 footstalks, much dilated at the base, with a pale thin membranous 

 edge, two or three times pinnate, the leaflets ovate lanceolate, variously 

 cut and serrated in narrow segments, quite smooth, of a dark green, 

 somewhat paler beneath and finely veined, slightly decurrent at the 

 base. Umbels terminal and lateral, the general of numerous striated 

 rays of unequal lengths, spreading, nearly flat, partial of numerous 

 short ones. General involucre none, partial of three narrow long 

 linear segments, hanging pendent on the outer side of the umbel. 

 Flowers numerous, white. Calyx with a narrow obsolete margin. 

 Petals five, irregular, inversely heart-shaped, with a small inflexed 

 point between the lobes at the end. Stamens with longish slender 

 filaments, bearing small whitish heart-shaped anthers. Styles short, 

 spreading, with small obtuse stiyrnas. Fruit roundish, ovate, small, 

 pale, greenish brown. Carpels with five thick, elevated, acutely keeled 

 ridges, the lateral ones forming the margins rather wider than the 

 others, and with the keel somewhat winged. Channels narrow, with 

 single slender vitlce. Albumen convex at the back, plain or concave in 

 front. 



Habitat. — Fields, waste places, and gardens. 



Annual ; flowering in July and August. 



Fool's Parsley is another plant possessing deleterious properties, and 

 is so called from its having been mistaken for the real Parsley, and in 

 many instances having produced fatal results. It is readily distin- 

 guished from all other genera of this order, by its three long pendent 

 segments of the partial involucre ; it has, moreover, smooth shining 

 leaves, having a very disagreeable nauseous smell when rubbed, which 

 is the reverse with the Garden Parsley. The juice is said to contain a 

 peculiar alkaloid, which crystallizes in rhombic jmsms, and is soluble 

 in water and alcohol, but not in ether. The deleterious properties are 

 said to reside in this salt, which has been named Cynapia. 



The symptoms which are said to be produced by this plant when 

 taken into the stomach are, nausea, vomiting, head-ache, giddiness, 

 somnolency, burning heat in the mouth, throat, and stomach, difli- 

 VOL. I. 3d 



