126 



FLOWERS OF THE CORNFIELDS 



leaf-stalks have small membranous sheaths, and are ascending and 

 furrowed. 



The Mowers are in umbels, and white, with smaller rays in the 

 centre. There are no general bracts or leaves, and no general whorls 

 of leaf-like organs. The partial involucres have bracts all one side, 

 long and pendulous. The flowers are irregular, with no calyx-teeth, 



and notched petals. 

 The fruit is green 

 and finely furrowed. 

 The Fool's Pars- 

 ley is usually i ft. to 

 1 8 in. high. It is in 

 flower from July to 

 September. It is 

 annual, and increased 

 by seeds. 



The flowers are 

 white, small, and in- 

 conspicuous. As the 

 plant has a disagree- 

 able odour and is 

 poisonous, it is on 

 this account little, if 

 at all, visited by in- 

 sects. The petals are 

 turned in, and the 

 stigmas as well as the 

 5 turned-in stamens 

 are short, and below 

 the corolla, or more 

 properly the stamens 

 overtop the ovary, 



which is glandular. Self-pollination is therefore encouraged. Opinion 

 differs as to whether the perfect flower matures the stigma or anthers 

 first. 



The seeds being flattened are more readily wind-carried, and when 

 the old stems are dry the seeds are easily jerked out to a distance by 

 wind or passing animals. 



Fool's Parsley grows on sand soil, and is a sand plant, but it will 

 grow in the shade on clay as well, though it is most prevalent on rock 

 soils yielding a sandy loam, and limestone soils, those yielded by such 



FOOL'S PARSLEY (^Ethusa Cynapi 



