124 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



SPECIES I.— (E NANTHE FISTULOSA. Linn. 



Plate DXCIII. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XXI. Tab. 1898. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 991. 



Root-fibres generally thickened, fusiform or cylindrical, the 

 subterranean part of the stem with numerous capillary fibres and 

 stolons. Stem erect, fragile, hollow, with a large bore, constricted 

 at each node, slightly branched. Leaflets of the radical leaves 

 pinnatifid, cut or entire, with strapshaped or elliptical, short, rather 

 obtuse lobes; petioles of tlie stem-leaves hollow, usually much 

 longer than the pinnate portion, which has 2 or 3 pairs of narrowly 

 strapshaped elongated leaflets. Terminal umbel with 3, the others 

 with 3 to 8 rays ; umbellules dense, globose in fruit. Involucre 

 none. Cremocarp* oblong, obconic, angular, without a callous ring 

 at the base, not contracted at the summit. Styles equalling or 

 slightly exceeding the fruit. 



In ditches and wet places. Common in England, rare in 

 Scotland ; where, however, it occurs, and reaches as far North as 

 the counties of Dumbarton and Elgin. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Eoot-fibres generally deeply buried in the mud, often only slightly 

 thickened, and sometimes the thickened fibres appear to be entirely 

 wanting ; above this the stem is clothed with radical fibres, and 

 produces elongated stolons, terminating in a tuft of small pinnate 

 leaves. Pvoot-leaves triangular in outline, with the leaflets always 

 short, but varying in the degree of incision, J to ^ inch long, 

 decayed by the time of flowering. EloAvering-stem 1 to 3 feet 

 high, as thick as a swan-quill, with the substance of the tubular 

 stalk very thin and compressible, slightly constricted at each node. 

 Petioles 2 to 9 inches long, the pinnie \ inch to 2 inches, each pair 

 distant about its own length from the one below^ it. Umbels termi- 

 nating the stem, but afterwards appearing lateral, from the growth 

 of axillary branches, the one which opens first with rarely more than 

 3 rays, which are \ to \\ inch long ; umbellules ^ to f inch across, 

 slightly convex in flower, distinct from each other ; exterior flowers 

 \ inch in their longest diameter, conspicuously radiant ; fertile 

 flowers much smaller : all the umbels, after the one Avhich termi- 



* The shape of the cremocarp in the descriptions of CEnanthe applies to that of 

 the outer fruits of the umbellules, as the interior ones are generally distorted by- 

 pressure. 



