524 



BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT 



ORDER : UMBELLALES. 

 Family : UMBELLIFERAE. Example ; Cow PARSNIP. 



(32) The Cow Parsnip (Heracleum sphondylium, L.) is a coarse perennial 

 herb, with massive storage stock, which sends up the annual leafy and flowering 

 shoot. The stem is hollow and fluted, and bears alternate leaves with broad 

 sheathing base, and irregularly cut lamina. The main inflorescence is terminal, 

 but others may arise in the axils of the upper leaves. It is a compound 

 umbel (p. 228, Fig. 176). The flowers are individually small, but many being 



FIG. 432. 



Heracleum sphondylium. I. whole flower seen from above. II. the same seen 

 from the side. III. gynoecium. IV. fruit. V. ditto in section. VI. mature fruit 

 with mericarps separate. VII. fruit in transverse section. VIII. floral diagram. 



grouped together, and all at the same level, the aggregate inflorescence becomes 

 a conspicuous feature. Each flower is borne upon a slender hairy stalk, which 

 widens out just below the flower itself into a flattened green body. This 

 is the inferior ovary, and the flower is epigynous (Fig. 432). Care should be 

 taken to select perfect flowers for observation, as the parts fall away early. 

 The flower consists of : 



Calyx, sepals 5, superior, present as minute teeth visible between the petals. 

 The odd sepal is posterior. 



Corolla, petals 5, polypetalous, free, superior. Each is notched at the free 

 edge. In the marginal flowers the petals are unequal, the outermost being the 

 largest. 



Androecium, stamens 5, free, epigynous, alternating with the petals ; bent 

 inward in bud, but straightening when mature. 



Gynoecium, carpels 2, syncarpous ; stigmas 2, styles widening downwards 

 into two yellowish green nectaries. Ovary inferior, bilocular, with one pendu- 

 lous ovule in each loculus. 



