56 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



are large, thrice compound ; the flower-umbels broad. Flowers, 

 white, the outer ones larger than the others, with inversely 

 heart-shaped or 2 -cleft petals. Involucre and involucels 

 present. 



44. Water-hemlock or Spotted Cowbane 



Cicitta maculaia may be known by its purple - streaked 

 stem. It is a large, coarse plant, with white flowers in large 

 umbels. It grows from 2 to 6 feet high. The lower leaves 

 have long stems. They are twice or thrice pinnate, coarsely 

 serrate, heavily veined. The blossoms appear in August. 

 The root is a deadly poison, perhaps making it the most dan- 

 gerous of our native plants. It has been eaten for sweet 

 cicely, with fatal consequences. 



45 



C. biillnfera is smaller, i to 3 feet high, with leaflets less 

 deeply toothed, and small bublets growing in clusters upon its 

 upper axils. Flowers, white. 



>r p < ^ -^ 46. \A^ater-parsnip 



K 



S)um cicutaefblium. — Fami/y, Parsley. Color, white. 

 Leaves, pinnate. Time, July, August. 



Smooth and tall, with a stout, grooved, angled stem. The 

 pinnate (locust-like) leaves are divided into 6 or 8 pairs of sharp- 

 pointed, serrate leaflets. Numerous narrow bracts surround the 

 flowers. If the plant grows in water, the lower leaves may be 

 finely dissected. A poisonous species. 2 to 6 feet high. 



47. Water-pennywort 



Hydrocoiyle Americana. — Family, Parsley. Color, white, 

 flowers very small. Leaves, kidney-shaped, lime, summer. 



Sometinies called water-ivy. It has small, thread-like stems, 

 which creep over wet moss and cling to soft mud. The pretty. 



