42 UMBELLIFER^ 



with a close row of spines ; general involucre very long, often piiniatifid. 

 Name, the Greek name of the plant. 



38. Bur Parsley (Caucalh). — Fruit slightly flattened; carpels united 

 by thin narrow edges, ridges bristly with 1 — 3 rows of hooked prickles 

 between. Name, the Greek name of the plant. 



39. Hedge Parsley (Torilis). — Fruit slightly contracted at the sides; 

 ridges of the carpels bristly, with numerous prickles ; general involucre 

 wanting ; partial of many leaves. Name of doubtful origin. 



40. Prickly Samphire {Erhino-phora). — Fruit egg-shaped in a prickly 

 receptacle, and with a prickly involucre ; carpels with five ribs. Name from 

 the Greek echinos, a hedgehog, and j^hero, to bear, from the prickly nature of 

 the fruit. 



'■'■ Umhels simple w irregular 



1. White-rot {Hydrocuhjle) 



Common "White-rot (//. vulgaris). — Leaves circular, Avith central 

 stalk, somewhat lobcd and crenated ; heads of about five flowers ; root 

 perennial. The large leaves of this plant are often to be seen lying on their 

 creeping stems covering large spots on the surface of the mossy bog. They 

 are bright green, smooth and glossy ; and sometimes an inch and a half 

 across. This plant flowers in May and June, but the blossoms are so small 

 that it is better known by its leaves than by the pinkish-green petals of the 

 little corollas. Sometimes the cluster consists of but two or three flowers, 

 and indeed they are not sufficiently numerous at any time to suggest the 

 idea of an umbel. The plants in this first division of the umbelliferous 

 plants, comprehending this and the two following genera, are very unlike, 

 in their general appearance, all those which follow. They are scarcely 

 uml)elliferous, but as the structure of the individual flower and fruit agrees 

 with that of plants of that character, they are classed wdth them. 



The Common AVhite-rot was in former days considered very prejudicial 

 to sheep, and several of the names by which it is known in country places 

 convey this opinion. It is called Sheep-killing Penny-grass, Sheep's Bane, 

 Marsh Penny-wort, and Flowk-wort. Sheep are now well known to leave it 

 untouched, but as the liver-fluke {Distoma hqxiiica), often so injurious to 

 these animals, is found on marshy lands, where this and some other acrid 

 plants abound, the malady was erroneously ascribed to the vegetation. The 

 French call the White-rot Hydrocoiyle, the Germans IFassernahel, and the 

 Spaniards term it Somhrera de aqua, probably from the form of its leaves, 

 which is something like that of the Sombreros, which they wear on their heads 

 to shade them from the sun. To its round leaf, slightly depressed in the 

 centre, the plant owes its old name of AYater-can. An Eastern species, 

 //. asidtica, is commonly used in India as a culinary vegetable, as well as a 

 medicine ; and the juice of H. umhelldta is also administered in small doses. 

 The flavour is said to be agreeable, and the odour aromatic. Lamarck 

 describes a species of White-rot, called the Gum-bearer, now termed Bolax 

 glebaria. A quantity of semi-transparent gum oozes from its stem, like that 

 produced by some fruit-trees. 



