13 



ments of the upper leaves are more or less linear ; those of the lower 

 leaves broader, and very variable in the same species. This varia- 

 bility renders it difficult to apply definite terms, which shall not be 

 contradicted by some of the leaves ; and yet the eye will tolerably 

 well distinguish the species by their leaves, when once familiar with 

 them. The uncertainty in the presence (or rather persistence) of the 

 involucrum, has led to error and confusion ; too much value having 

 been attached to that organ, in framing specific characters. The 

 fruit affords excellent characters, in its different forms, and by the 

 presence or absence of a thickened (callous) base, of a pale or yellow- 

 ish-brown colour. This is not to be confounded with the dilated 

 summit of the pedicel, which is seen, more or less, in each species. 

 The callosity is still part of the fruit, after separation from the pedicel. 

 With these explanations, I trust that the following characters will 

 enable any botanist to name his specimens. I add the localities 

 from which I have examined specimens, since little reliance can be 

 placed on those published in books. 



1. (Efianthe pimpinelloideSf Linn. Tubers oval or sub-spherical, 

 connected to the base of the stem by a slender peduncle, (^'. e. a por- 

 tion of the fibre, which is not enlarged into the tuber). Leaflets and 

 segments very acute or mucronate ; those of the radical leaves much*** 

 broader and shorter. Involucrum many-leaved (about six), usually 

 persistent. Fruit cylindrical, as broad as the calyx, callous at the 

 base, distinctly pedicellate, fi^ee in the umbellule. Q^.pimpinelloides, 

 Lees, in ' Phytologist,' &c. ; London Catalogue ; Ball, in Annals. 

 Not of Smith ; Hooker ; Lindley ; Edinburgh Catalogue, nor English 

 Botany, 384. There appears no difficulty about continental syno- 

 nymes here. The specimens in the Linnsean herbarium, wanting root 

 and fi-uit, apparently belong here ; and it is no doubt the species of 

 De Candolle, and European authors generally. Near Cruckbarrow 

 Hill, and on hilly ground, at Powick, both in Worcestershire ; also 

 on dry hilly ground at Forthampton, Gloucestershire : Mr. Edwin 

 Lees. In Hayfields, at Fifehead Neville, Dorset : Mrs. Wyndham, 

 and Mr. W. C. Trevelyan. On a hedge-bank, near^Shanklin, in the 

 Isle of Wight. The Shanklin plant has longer tubers, and broader 

 leaves. I have not seen mature fruit of plants from the other localities. 

 The half-grown fruit from Cruckbarrow Hill, is remarkable in having 

 the pedicel itself thickened and callous. 



2. CEnanthe Lachenalii, Gmel. Tubers elongate, slender, clavate, 

 fusiform, or sub-cylindrical, sessile, (the thickening of the fibre com- 

 mencing from its origin at the base of the stem). Leaflets of the lower 



