394 FEUCEDANOM. t<^^*ss V. ORDER II. 



was esteemed for its supposed medical virtues. The seeds are said to 

 possess diuretic properties, but it is uot now used as a medicine. 



GENUS LXXV. PEUCE'DANUM.— Linn. Hogs Fennel 



Gen. Char. Calyx margin of five teeth, sometimes obsolete. Petals 



obovate, emarginate, or entire, with an in flexed point. Fruit 



flattened at the back with a broad thin margin. Carpels with five 



nearly equi-distant ridges, the three dorsal ones filiform, the 



lateral ones more obsolete, near to, or confounded with, the dilated 



margin. Channels with one to three vittce. Albumen flat in 



front. Pericarp double. General involucre various, partial of 



numerous segments. — Name from itivKV), a Pine tree ; and Javoj 



du-arf; on account of the narrow leaves of some of the species 



resembling a Pine tree, or from some species giving a resinous 



extract. 



1. P. offi'cinale, Linn. (Fig. 454.) Hogh Fennel, or Sea Stilphur 



Weed. Stem round, striated ; leaves five times tri-partite ; leaflets 



linear, flaccid, tapering at the extremities; involucre of few linear 



deciduous segments; pedicles two or three times longer than the fruit. 



English Botany, t. 1767. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 99. — Hooker, 



British Flora, vol. i. p. 134. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 117. 



Root tapering, large, stout, fleshy, containing a resinous juice of a 

 sulphureous smell. Stem erect, round, smooth, numerously striated, 

 slender, smooth, branched and leafy. Leaves on round striated foot- 

 stalks, large, divided, five times tri-partite, leaflets simple, linear, flat, 

 about an inch and half long, tapering at each end, three ribbed, the 

 terminal leaflet of three segments. Umhels terminal and lateral, 

 large, of numerous long slender unequal striated rays, the partial of 

 numerous very slender nearly equal rays, both general and partial 

 involucre of numerous narrow linear segments, soon falling away, 

 sometimes one or two remaining. Floirers numerous, yellow. Calyx 

 of five small acute teeth. Petals inversely heart-shaped, nearly entire, 

 with a small inflexed point. Stamens on lung slender filaments, with 

 small roundish anthers. Styles short, elongating, and reflexed, the 

 stigmas small, notched. Disk somewhat convex. In-iiit ovate, 

 flattened at the back, with a narrow flat dilated margin. Carpels with 

 slender filiform nearly equal ridges, the two near the dilated margin 

 scarcely distinguished. Channels with from one to three vittce. Al- 

 bumen flat in front, convex at the back. 



Habitat. — Salt marshes and meadows ; very rare. In Kent, Sussex, 

 and Essex. 



Perennial ; flowering from July to September. 



