Parsley and Carrot 165 
there are no impassable barriers of stiff hairs to keep 
off those that have the misfortune to be naturally 
small. 
The flowers are always small individually, usually 
white, but so associated in flat heads that they are 
very conspicuous. In most cases, too, they produce 
honey, and the pollen is shed before the stigmas are 
ripe to receive it—showing that cross-fertilisation is 
desired. In consequence of this regularity of the 
flowers throughout the family, it will not be 
necessary to pay much attention to them after 
describing their general characters. 
One of the best — because the largest —of the 
native species, for our purpose, is the well-known and 
plentiful Cow Parsnip (Heracleum sphondyliumy). 
A vertical section must be made through the flower, 
and then we shall see that its lower portion consists 
of a two-celled ovary, closely invested by the calyx, 
at whose upper margin we may be able to distinguish 
five minute teeth, but these are often absent. There 
are five white or pinkish heart-shaped petals, unequal 
in size. On top of the ovary there is a two-lobed 
disk on which the nectar is poured out, and to this 
are attached the two curved styles. There are five 
stamens, whose filaments curl over towards the 
centre of the flower, and from their tips are loosely 
hung the swinging anthers. | 
Each of these little flowers is mounted on a foot- 
stalk, and a variable number of these foot-stalks spring 
from the summit of a longer and stouter stalk. This 
flower-cluster is called an umbel, and if you look at 
it from below you will see that it bears considerable 
likeness to a Japanese umbrella. This peculiarity 
