184 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



The Hemlock is very tall, graceful, erect, bearing- numerous 

 branches. The stem is smooth, bluish-white, shiny, hollow, and finely 

 furrowed. The leaves at the base are large, triangular, shining, very 

 much divided, the oblong leaflets having sharp coarse teeth. When 

 crushed, the leaves smell like mice. 



The umbels of the flowerhead are terminal, those of the partial 

 involucres or whorls of leaflike organs on one side only lance-shaped. 

 The flowers are small, numerous (several hundreds in one umbel), and 



so conspicuous. They are 

 white, and the first ones to 

 open are male flowers. 

 There are no calyx teeth. 



The petals have a turned- 

 in point serving to protect 

 the honey, and are blunt, 

 heart-shaped, and unequal. 

 The umbels are axillary. The 

 flowers are sweet-scented. 



The Hemlock grows to 

 a height of 5-10 ft. The 

 flowers open in June and 

 July. It is perennial, and 

 reproduced by seeds. In 

 winter the roots contract, and 

 the plant is drawn down into 

 the earth. 



The flowers mature 

 slowly and gradually, and at 

 first are entirely male, and 

 later entirely female. When 



the flower opens, the anthers open, and are covered with pollen one by 

 one before the styles appear. Each anther is at a distance of two-fifths 

 the circumference from the preceding one. The anthers elongate and 

 stand above the stigma. In the middle of the male period the older 

 anthers wither and turn outwards, while the rest are opening and take 

 their place, and are covered with pollen. The styles are still short and 

 bent in with the stigmas unripe. After all the anthers have fallen off, the 

 styles become erect, and stigmatic knobs form at the end of the styles. 



The flowers are visited by Sargus, Calliphora, Lucilia, Scatophaga, 

 Meligethes, Trichius, Nematus, Ichneumon ids, Pompihis, Andrena. 

 The fruits are flattened or winged to aid in their dispersal by the 



Photo. W. E. Mayes 



HEMLOCK (Conium maculatum, L.) 



