WAYSIDES AND WASTES IN SPRING 



95 



order {Cuciirhitacece). It has a very thick rootstock ; a slender stem, 

 that often reaches a length of ten feet or more ; large, bright green, 

 palmate leaves with three, five or seven angular, coarsely-toothed 

 lobes ; and long simple or branched tendrils. The flowers are im- 

 perfect, the males and females growing on separate plants. The 



former are of a pale 



yellow colour, in stalked 

 clusters, each one consist- 

 ing of a spreading, five- 

 lobed corolla, about half 

 an inch in diameter, and 

 five stamens, one of which 

 is free, while the other 

 four are united in jDairs : 

 the females are smaller, 

 generally in pairs, each 

 consisting of a globular 

 ovary with three stigmas, 

 and a superior, five-lobed 

 corolla. The fruit is a 

 scarlet or orange-coloured 

 berry, about a third of an 

 inch in diameter, contain- 

 ing several seeds. The 

 whole plant is clothed the moschatel. 



with small, white hairs, 

 and contains an acrid sap. Time of flowering — May to September. 



The Common Beaked Parsley {Anthriscus vulgaris), of the order 

 Umbelliferce, is very common by waysides, flowering during May 

 and June. The stem of this plant is smooth and shining, from 

 two to three feet high, sHghtly swollen at the nodes. The leaves are 

 tripinnate, with blunt segments, and slightly hairy on the under 

 side. The white flowers are arranged in compound umbels with 

 short stalks, and the umbels droop before the flowers open. There 

 are no bracts at the base of the main pedicels, but five or six bracteoles, 

 with fringed edges. He at the foot of the secondary pedicels. The 

 fruits are short, ovate, with short beaks and hooked bristles. 

 As with the other members of this genus, the petals have an 

 inflexed lip. 



This genus includes the Chervil or Wild Beaked Parsley {A. 

 sylvestris), wliich is very common in hedges and waysides, flowering 



