2l8 



umbell/fer^ 



30. Meum (Spignel). — A smooth, aromatic plant ; leaves pin- 

 nately decompound with crowded bristle-like segments ; umbels 

 compound, bracteate ; bracts linear ; -flowers yellowish ; petals 



narrowed at both ends, in- 

 flexed. (Name, the Greek 

 for this or some allied plant.) 

 I. M. athamdnticum (Spig- 

 nel, Meu, or Bald-money). — 

 Well distinguished by its 

 bipinnate leaves cut into 

 numerous crowded, acute, 

 bristle-like segments. — Dry 

 mountainous pastures in the 

 north. The whole plant, an i 

 especially the root, which is 

 eaten by the Highlanders, is 

 highly aromatic, with a 

 flavour like Melilot, which it 

 communicates to milk and 

 butter when the cows feed on 

 its leaves in spring. — " Bald, 

 or Bald-Money, is a corrup- 

 tion of Balder, the Apollo of 

 the Northern nations, to 

 whom this plant was dedi- 

 cated." {Sir W. J. Hooker.) 

 — Fl. June, July. PerenniaL 



31. Haloscias (Lovage). 

 — Smooth plants ; leaves i — • 

 3-ternately pinnate ; umbels 

 compound, bracteate ; petals 

 w^hite or pink, notched, with 

 a short claw and long inflexed 

 tip ; fruit short, somewhat 

 winged ; seeds loose. (Name 

 from the Greek scias, an 

 umbel, halos, of the sea.) 



I. H. scoticum (Scotch Lov- 

 age). — Stem little branched, 

 about i^ feet high, tinged with red : leaves dark green, glossy, 

 biternate with large, broad, serrate leaflets ; flowers reddish-white, 

 with both bracts and bracieoles. — Rocky coasts i.a Scotland and 

 Northumberland.— Fl. July. PerenniaL 



m6um athamAntictm 

 {Spignel, Mcu, or Bald- Money). 



