UMBELLIFERiE. 109 



In damp liedg'c-banks and by roadsides, and in cultivated ground. 

 Common and generally distributed ; possibly originally introduced. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Kootstock white, slender, creeping extensively. Uadical leaves 

 on stalks I inches to 1 foot long, the lamina deltoid in outline, 4 to 

 G inches long ; leaflets 2 to 4 inches long, unequal at the base, the 

 lateral pair of each triad very shortly stalked, the terminal one 

 conspicuously so. Elowering- stems 2 to 3 feet high ; thick, hollow, 

 strongly furrowed, corymbosely branched at the top, the uppermost 

 ramitication with the leaves at its base opposite. Umbels on long 

 stalks, flat-topped, the rays 1 to IJ inch long ; pedicels about J inch. 

 Plowers J inch in diameter, slightly radiant, white. Petals obovate- 

 roundish, deeply notched, with an inflexed lobe. Cremocarp ^^ inch 

 long, dark olive-brown, with the ribs rather slender, elevated, and 

 a little paler ; columella entire nearly to the apex, where it divides 

 into 2 branches. Stylopods nearly as long as the breadth of the 

 mericarp ; styles very long, reflexed, and applied to the backs of 

 the mericarps. Plant glabrous, green, with the under side of the 

 leaves paler. 



Common Goutweed or Goat-weed. 



French, Egopode cles Goutteux, German, Gemeneir Gersch, oder Giersch. 



This plant is known by the names Herb Gerarde, Ash-weed or Ach-weed, and 

 Wild Masterwort. It had a great reputation among our forefathers as a remedy in 

 many disorders, especially the gout. Gerarde tells us that " with his roots stamped 

 and laid upon members that are troubled or vexed with the gout, swageth the jmine, 

 and taketh away the swelling and inflammations thereof, which occasioned the 

 Germans to give it the name Podagrai'ia, because of his vertues in curing the gout." 

 The other various diseases for which this plant is recommended as a specific, are too 

 numerous to be mentioned, especially as we are now assured that its virtues were 

 purely imaginary, and that it possesses no medical efficacy bejond the pungency found 

 in so n)any of the family. Linnceus tells us that the young leaves are eaten as a green 

 vegetable in Sweden and Switzerland. It is a coarse-growing plant and a great 

 creeper, so that it is dangerous to admit it into gardens, for when once there it can 

 scarcely be eradicated. It is sometimes called Bishop's- weed, from the fact of its being 

 often found on old ecclesiastical ruins. 



GENUS XII.—O ARUM. Linn. 



Calyx-limb obsolete. Petals obovate, notched, with a large 

 inflexed point from the notch. Cremocarp ovoid or oblong-ovoid, 

 laterally compressed ; columella free, 2-cleft ; mericarps with 5 fili- 

 form equal ridges, the lateral ones marginal ; interstices each with 

 1 to 3 vittoe. Seed flat on the inner side (that towards the colu- 

 mella). Involucres various. 



