UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE 75 



reported by Mr. Don as occurring at the side of the river Lunan, near 

 Guthrie, in Forfarshire, but no other botanist has ever recorded it as grow- 

 ing in this country — a peculiarity of so many of Don's records of rarities. 



36. Cicely (Myrrhis). 



Sweet Cicely (71/. odwdfa). — Leaves somewhat downy beneath, very 

 large, and thrice pinnate, with pinnatifid leaflets ; bracts of the partial invo- 

 lucres long and pointed. Plant perennial. This is, perhaps, not a truly 

 wild plant, for it is usually found near houses, where it may have grown in 

 gardens. It was called also Sweet Chervil, and praised because it had, 

 "besides its pleasantness in salads, great physieall virtues." The old 

 herbalists describe it as "so harmless, that you cannot use it amiss;" and 

 told that its roots was held as " eff'ectual as that of Angelica to preserve 

 from infection in the time of the Plague." These roots, boiled and eaten 

 with oil and vinegar, were regarded as tonic. The whole plant is aromatic, 

 and the root very powerfully so. Parkinson remarks : " This herbe is much 

 used both by the French and Dutch, who doe much more delight in herbes 

 of stronger taste than the English doe. It is sowne early, and used but a 

 little while, because it quickly runneth up to seede. Sweete Chervil, or as 

 some call it, Sweete Cis, is so like in the taste unto anise seede, that it much 

 delighteth the taste among other herbes as a sallet. The rootes likewise are 

 not onely cordiall, but also held to be preservative against the Plague, either 

 when greene, dryed, or preserved with sugar." 



The odour of the foliage of this plant is certainly very agreeable, though 

 Ave doubt if the root " made into tarts " would please modern palates. The 

 G-ermans yet use the seeds very generally in cookery ; and in the north of 

 p]ngland they were, some years since, used to polish oaken floors and furni- 

 ture ; but oaken floors are gradually disappearing now, and hence the plant 

 is altogether in less request. The large fruits are sometimes nearly an inch 

 long, dark brown, and extremely fragrant. 



The Sweet Cicely occurs frequently in pastures at the north of England, 

 and in the Lowlands of Scotland. The stem is two or three feet high, the 

 umbels terminal, and composed of numerous white flowers, which are pro- 

 duced in May and June ; the upper surfaces of the leaves are bright and 

 glossy. 



******** Fruii not beaked, clothed tvith prickles, or with a 

 prickly invoh.tcre. 



37. Carrot (Damus). 



1. Wild Carrot (D. cardta). — Leaves thrice pinnate; leaflets pinnatifid, 

 segments narrow and acute; prickles of fruit slender, mostly distinct and 

 spreading. Plant biennial. Scarcely one of the umbelliferous tribe, common 

 as some of them are, is more frequent than this plant in our hedges, field- 

 borders, and meadows. Its beautifully cut leaves, which in spring are of a 

 most tender green, are very elegant as they unfold in May on the sunny 

 bank, and in autumn are tinted with a golden hue, or reddened into purple 

 or crimson. The umbels of the flowers stand, during June and July, on a 

 stem a foot or more in height. They are Avhite, more or less tinted with 



10—2 



