38 UMBELLIFEE.^ 



magnified, they are found to be tubes filled with oil, and it is the substance 

 contained in these cells which gives the pungency to the caraway, coriander, 

 and other strongly -flavoured umbelliferous seeds. If the carpel is cut across 

 when ripe, the ends of these tubes, or vitt?e, may be seen by the aid of the 

 microscope, looking like little openings, through which a dark oily matter is 

 slightly oozing. Each carpel has a single seed, attached by its upper 

 extremity, and containing a horny all:)umen — that is, the white farinaceous 

 substance which constitutes the chief bulk of some seeds. 



The flowers of the umbelliferous tribe are usually small, and on short 

 stalks, all proceeding from one point, like the rays of an umbrella. Each 

 little cluster is called an umbel. When several of these are arranged around 

 the top of a common stalk, they form a compound umbel, the larger being 

 called a general, the smaller a pai-tial umbel. 



This large and important order is one in which there is much general 

 resemblance in the species. It is easy enough to associate them into one 

 large tribe, for even an unpractised botanist easily recognises a plant as 

 umbelliferous by its most obvious features and mode of growth. This 

 general similarity, hoAvever, renders the division into genera and species very 

 difficult, as the special distinctions are much less marked than those of other 

 flowering plants. These distinctions are not only few in number, but their 

 investigation requires patient and careful attention. Not only the flowers, 

 leaves, and stems must be looked at, but the fruits, seeds, vittae, the albumen, 

 the faces of the halves of the fruit where they touch each other (the 

 commissure), all form important distinctions, which must be studied by 

 those who would fully understand the order. 



The British Umbelliferse are all herbaceous plants, and until recently the 

 tribe was not known to include a shrub or tree ; but a shrubby plant of this 

 order is now introduced into our gardens, called the Black Parsley. The 

 species are natives chiefly of the northern parts of the northern hemisphere, 

 occurring in groves, thickets, plains, marshes, meadows, and waste places. 

 Their foliage is in general of an unwholesome character, and is very often 

 highly poisonous, as in the Hemlock and Dropwort. Notwithstanding this 

 the roots and stems of many, and the leaves of a few, are useful as food. 

 Such are the roots of the Carrot and Parsnip, the leaves of Parsley, and the 

 stems of Celery. The fruits are never noxious, and often furnish an agreeable 

 aromatic, as the Coriander and CaraAvay. A stimulant gum resin exists in 

 the stems of several species, which, as in the Asafoetida plant, is a valuable 

 medicine. Several even of those vimbelliferous plants which are poisonous 

 afford valuable remedies to the skilful practitioner. Besides these uses of 

 the tribe, it contributes materially, especially in early spring, to the beauty 

 of our native vegetation. The finely-divided, elegant foliage is at this 

 season of a most tender green hue, and even the small flowers lend a charm 

 to the hedges and meadows where they are so numerous. The clusters or 

 umbels of blossoms are usually surrounded by a green involucre, and the 

 petals are pink, yellow, green, or white, or rarely blue. Our native species 

 are mostly white-flowerecl. About thirteen hundred species are enumerated 

 as belonging to this extensive family in its world-wide distribution, and of 

 these only about sixty occur in the British Isles. 



