FOOL'S PARSLEY. 



JEthusa Cynapiiim. 



Umbel 'lifer c 



Nat. Ord., 



HE light and graceful plant 

 which we have figured in the 

 accompanying illustration may 

 be very commonly met with 

 in fields,, on rubbish-heaps, 

 and in the garden, and it may 

 readily and at once be dis- 

 tinguished from all other 

 plants more or less similar to 

 it by the three long, slender, 

 leaf-like strips that spring 

 from beneath each little cluster 

 of flowers. Many of the 

 umbel-bearing order of plants 

 have a strong family likeness 

 that tends to make their iden- 

 tification difficult; but such 

 difficulty need never arise in 

 the present case if the pecu- 

 liarity we have referred to be borne in mind, as it is 

 a characteristic belonging to this plant alone. One 

 great value of the study of botany is that it enables 

 us rightly to ascertain the natures of plants, enabling 

 us to discriminate between those which are useful 



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