UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE 113 



plants which contain some of the above properties in a very slight 

 degree, or so modified as to form wholesome, esculent vegetables. 

 Among these Carrots and Parsnips occupy the first place ; Celery 

 and Alexanders, in their wild state, are too acrid to be used as food, 

 but when blanched by artificial means become mild and agreeable ; 

 Parsley, Fennel, and Chervil, the last now nearly out of use, are well- 

 known pot-herbs ; Samphire affords the best of pickles ; the root 

 of Eryngo is sweet, aromatic, and tonic, and is commonly sold in 

 a candied state ; the root of Angelica (Angelica Archangelica) is 

 fragrant and sweet when first used, but leaves a glowing heat in 

 the mouth, and is commended by the Laplanders both as food and 

 medicine : the candied stems form a favourite sweetmeat. Several 

 species produce underground tubers, which, under the name of pig- 

 nuts, or earth-nuts, are eaten by children and pigs ; and others, 

 common in the East, afford valuable pasturage for cattle. Of all 

 the British umbelliferous plants, the most dangerous are the Water 

 Dropworts (CEnanthe), the large tuberous roots of which, resembling 

 Dahlia roots, are often exposed by the action of running water, near 

 which they grow, and are thus easily got at by children and cattle. 

 The following table contains a description of all the common British 

 species : a list of the rarer ones and introduced species will be found 

 at the end of the Order. 



Umbels simple or irregular 



1. Hydrocotyle (White-rot). Flowers in simple umbels ; fruit 

 of two flattened, roundish lobes, united by the narrow edge ; leaves 

 round, peltate. (Name from the Greek, hydor, water, and cotyle, 

 a platter, from the shape of the leaves and place of growth.) 



2. Sanicula (Sanicle). Flowers in panicled tufts, the outer with- 

 out stamens, the inner without pistils ; fruit egg-shaped, covered 

 with hooked prickles. (Name from the Latin, sano, to heal, the 

 plant being formerly supposed to have remarkable healing qualities.) 



3. Eryngium (Eryngo). Flowers in a dense prickly head ; fruit 

 egg-shaped, covered with chaffy scales. 



Umbels compound ; fruit of two flattened lobes, which are united by 

 the narrow edge, not prickly, nor beaked 



4. Conium (Hemlock). Fruit egg-shaped, each carpel with wavy 

 ridges ; general bracts few ; partial 3, all on the outside. (Name 

 from the Greek for the plant.) 



5. Smyrnium (Alexanders). Fruit of 2 kidney-shaped carpels, 

 each having 3 prominent ridges ; bracts o. (Name from the Greek, 

 Smyrna, myrrh, from the scent of some of the species.) 



6. Cicuta (Water Hemlock). Fruit of 2 almost globose carpels, 

 with 5 broad, flattened ridges ; general bracts 1 or 2, very narrow, 



