UMBELLIFERAE PARSLEY FAMILY 
WILD CHERVIL 
Chaerophyllum procumbens (L.) Crantz 
The Wild Chervil, which produces its small white flowers in 
abundance from April to June, is common in rich woods and 
often in open places on moist soil from New York to North 
Carolina and west to Iowa and 
Louisiana. It is a much branched 
annual herb 6-20 inches high, 
with slender, more or less hairy, 
spreading stems. 
The flowers are produced in 
small compound umbels, each 
cluster consisting of 2-6 few- 
flowered umbels on _ peduncles 
which are in turn arranged as an 
umbel. There is a cluster of small 
bracts forming an involucre below 
each little umbel but ordinarily 
there is no involucre below the 
compound umbel. 
The flower parts are attached 
above the ovary as is true of all 
members of the family. The calyx 
tube is so short as to be almost 
absent and there are no calyx 
teeth. The 5 white petals have 
the tips turned in and 1 is slightly 
larger than the others. The 5 
stamens alternate with the petals 
and are attached with them to a 
sort of disk that crowns the ovary 
and surrounds the base of the 2 styles. The fruit when mature 
is a nearly smooth, oblong, somewhat angled or ribbed akene. 
There is 1 seed in each of the identical halves. 
The gladiolus and the fervent rose, 
Which in their splendor move unshadowéed, 
Upon their vital stems expose 
Their cups of gold and red. 
Within The Garden There is Healthfulness—EMILE VERHAEREN 
217 
