UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE. 249 



the candied steins 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 valu- 

 able pasturage for cattle. Of all the British umbelli- 

 ferous plants, the most dangerous are the Water Drop- 

 worts ((Enanthe), the large tuberous roots of which, re- 

 sembling 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 

 of introduced species, will be found at the end of the 

 Order. 



* Umbels simple or irregular. 



1. HYDROCOTYL (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 without 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 car- 

 pel with 5 wavy ridges ; general bracts few, partial 3, 

 all on the outside. (Name, the Greek for the plant.) 



5. SMYRNIUM (Alexanders). Fruit of two kidney- 

 shaped carpels, each having 3 prominent ridges ; bracts 0. 

 (Name from the Greek, smyrna, myrrh, from the scent 

 of some of the species.) 



6. CICUTA (Water Hemlock). Fry.it of 2 almost 



