UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE 63 



colour, one or two inches in diameter, and covered with a whitish down, 

 which may be easily rubbed off with the finger. Its flowers appear in July, 

 and are white tinged with pink. It is aromatic, but less so than the garden 

 species. It is frequent in moist bogs and marshy places. After the stem is 

 withered a very elegant little fungus often grows on this as well as other 

 umbelliferous plants of damp places. This is the yellow hairy sessile Peziza. 

 It is of a yellowish cottony sm-face externally, but inside it is grey, and 

 nearly smooth. In dry weather it closes up its tiny cup, and does not look 

 like a Peziza. It is often very pretty in the month of April, on the dead 

 stems of the plant, and on dry sticks in damp woods. 



25. Hog's-fennel {PeucManum). 



I. Sea Hog's-fennel, or Sulphur-weed {P. officinale). — Stem round; 

 leaves five times 3-parted ; leaflets linear, acute ; general involucre 3-leaved, 

 falling early ; leaflets very long and narrow. Root perennial. This is a very 

 rare plant of the sea-shore, growing in the salt marshes of Kent and Essex, 

 and conspicuous from July to Septemljer by its large umbels of yellow 

 flowers, and its long narrow flaccid leaflets. It has a strong odour of brim- 

 stone, which is still more powerful in the roots than in the foliage or flower, 

 though the scent of the roots of some foreign species has far greater strength. 

 Our Hog's-Fennel does not appear to yield much resin, but in warm climates 

 the resin of some kinds is abundant. The plant was in former days considered 

 a good remedy for hypochondriasis. 



Professor Balfour, remarking on the salubrious qualities of many umbelli- 

 ferous plants found on the sea-shore, mentions this as one possessing such 

 {pialities. He quotes Dr. Walker's remark on this subject : " Though," says 

 that writer, " I would not propose it as a rule to be depended upon in so 

 dangerous a case as poisons, yet I think it highly probable that all the 

 maritime plants of this class are salutary and excellent. This I am certain 

 of, that none of the umbelliferous plants known to be poisonous are stationed 

 on the sea-shore, all the maritime plants of this class whose qualities are 

 known are innocent ; and it is further remai-kable that this is not to be 

 ascribed to their dry situation among the maritime rocks, or on the sandy 

 shore, for the celery and sulphur-wort grow on the salt marshes, on as 

 watery a soil as any of the umbelliferous aquatics which are poisonous. 

 Here, I imagine, lies an essential difference between plants that inhabit salt 

 water and fresh." Professor Balfour remarks, that Dr. Walker's conclusions 

 may be too general, though there is certainly much truth in his statements, 

 but further information is necessary before all umbelliferous plants of salt 

 marshes can be regarded as wholesome. We should hardly like to partake 

 of the wild celery gathered from the salt marsh, though it has certainly 

 been eaten with impunity : and Sir Wm. Hooker and Dr. Arnott remark 

 of the root of this Sulphur-wort, that it is reckoned stimulant, but is of 

 dangerous internal use. It is quite certain, as Dr. Walker has observed, that 

 certain plants lose some of their noxious properties when growing on salt 

 marshes, nor is the remark true of the umbelliferous class only. The writer 

 of these pages, when at Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate, in the course of the 

 summer, found a quantity of the lianunculus sceleratus growing near a salt 



