246 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



Order Umbellifer^. 



Plants of this order can usually be easily recognized. They 

 are herbs with stout stems hollow between the nodes. In 

 South Africa, as in the case of so many other plants, the flowering 

 stalks often appear after the leaves, which have prepared food 

 to be stored in underground reservoirs. They have alternate, 

 exstipulate, much-divided leaves sheathing the stem. Or the 

 leaves may be entire with narrowed petioles. The flowers are 

 usually arranged in compound umbels with an involucre. 

 Sepals 5, small. Petals 5, or none, usually regular, but the 

 outer petals of the outer flowers are often longer, reminding us 



Fig. 247. — Biihon galbunnvi. I. Flower. II. Floral 

 diagram. (From Edmonds and Marloth's "Elemen- 

 tary Botany for South Africa.") 



Fig. 248.— Fruit of the Fen- 

 nel : a, carpophore. (From 

 Thome and Bennett's "Struc- 

 tural and Physiological 

 Botany.") 



of the ray flowers of the Sunflower family. Stamens 5. Ovary 

 inferior, 2-parted. On the top of the ovary is a disc where 

 the honey is exposed to short-tongued flies, though bees visit 

 the flowers also. When ripe, the dry shizocarp splits apart ; the 

 two carpels are supported on a forked stalk which runs up 

 between them. The fruit may be flattened on both sides or at 

 the backs of the carpels. A strongly scented oil is contained 

 in cavities extending the length of the fruit. 



Hydrocotyl differs in habit from the usual plants of this 

 order, but may be recognized by the inferior, 2-parted fruit. 

 The umbels are simple, about 3- flowered, only one of the 

 flowers bearing seed. The involucre is 4-6-leaved. Slender 

 herbs or creeping shrubs. 



