APIACE7E OR UMBELLIFERJE. 



The root is sweet, aromatic and tonic. Boerhaave reckons it as 

 the first of aperient diuretic roots. It has been recommended in gonor- 

 rhoea, suppression of the menses, and visceral obstructions, particularly 

 of the gall bladder and liver ; it has also the credit of being a decided 

 aphrodisiac. A good deal of candied root is still sold. 



69. E. maritimum Linn. sp. pi. 337. has similar properties 

 but in a less degree. 



CICUTA. 



Teeth of calyx leafy. Petals obcordate, with an inflected 

 lobe. Fruit roundish, double, contracted at the side. Half- 

 fruits with 5 flattish equal ridges, the lateral of which form the 

 border. Channels each with 1 vitta ; commissure with 2 vittae 

 below a loose skin. Perennial herbs, smooth, aquatic and poi- 

 sonous. Stem taper, fistular. Leaves tripinnate or ternate. 

 Involucre none, or few leaved; involucels many-leaved. Flowers 

 white. 



70. C. maculata Linn. sp. pi 367. DC. prodr. iv. 99. 

 Bigelow med. hot. i. t. 12. Common in wet meadows and 

 banks in the United States. (Snakeweed.) 



Root composed of a number of large, oblong, fleshy fangs, diverging 

 from the base of the stem, and frequently of the size and length of the 

 finger. It is perennial, and has a strong, penetrating smell and taste. 

 In various parts of the bark it contains distinct cells or cavities, which 

 are filled with a yellowish resinous juice. The plant is from 3 to 6 

 feet high. Stem smooth, branched at top, hollow, jointed, striated, 

 and commonly of a purple colour, except when the plant grows in the 

 shade, in which case it is green. Leaves compound ; the largest about 

 3 times pinnate, the uppermost only ternate. Most of the petioles 

 are furnished with long membranous sheaths, which clasp the stem. 

 Leaflets, oblong, acuminate, serrate, the serratures very acute or mu- 

 cronated ; the veins end in the sinuses, and not at the points of the 

 serratures. General involucre none. Involucels of very short, narrow, 

 acute bracts. The distinctness or separation of these umbels charac- 

 terises this plant at a distance among others of its kind, whose 

 umbels are more crowded. Calyx of 5 very minute segments. Petals 

 5, white, obovate, with inflected points. Fruit nearly orbicular, com- 

 pressed, 10-furrowed, crowned at top, and separating into 2 semicir- 

 cular halves. Bigelow. A most dangerous poison resides in its 

 roots ; a drachm of the fresh root has killed a boy in an hour and a 

 half; and in America fatal accidents arising from its being mistaken 

 for other apiaceous plants are not uncommon. Has been used as a sub- 

 stitute for conium, with similar effect except that it is more energetic. 



71. C. virosa Linn. sp. pi. 368. DC. prodr. iv. 99. 

 Eng. Bot. t. 479. Nees and Eberm. pi. med. t. 285. handb. 

 iii. 25. S. and C. ii. t. 89. Woodv. t. 268. Smith Eng.fi. ii. 63. 



Ditches and river banks through all Europe and Siberia. 

 (Water Cowbane.) 



Root tuberous, hollow, with many whorled fibres, and several trans- 



34 



