134 umbellifeRjE. {Umbellifera. 



vittce. Seed pendulous. Embryo minute, in a horny albumen. — Herbs or 

 shrubs. Leaves alternate, often much divided, the petiole usually dilated at 

 the base, but no real stipules. Flowers usually small, in lateral or terminal 

 umbels, rarely reduced to heads, and often with one or more bracts, forming 

 an involucre at the base of the umbel. 



A large Order, widely dispersed over the northern hemisphere, and especially in the tem- 

 perate regions, with a few tropical species, and rather more in the temperate regions of the 

 southern hemisphere. 



Flowers in simple umbels or heads. Carpels orbicular, flat. Creeping 



or floating herbs 1. Hydrocotyle. 



Umbel compound. Fruit globular. Erect annual 2. Coriandrum. 







1. HYDROCOTYLE, Linn. 



Flowers in simple heads, umbels, or whorls. Petals ovate. Fruit laterally 

 compressed, orbicular or broader than long ; the carpels flat, placed edge to 

 edge, with 1 or 2 prominent ribs on each side, and without prominent calycine 

 teeth. — Herbs, usually prostrate and creeping, or aquatic. Leaves seldom 

 divided, and usually peltate or cordate. 



A considerable genus, dispersed over the greater part of the globe. 



Flowers 3 or 4 in a head. Fruit near 2 lines diameter, with 2 scarcely 



prominent ribs on each side 1. H. asiatica. 



Flowers 10 or more in a head. Fruit about | of a line diameter, with 



1 very prominent rib on each side 2. H. rotundifolia. 



1. H. asiatica, Linn.; DC. Prod. iv. 62; Wight, 2b. £.565. A creep- 

 ing perennial, rooting at the nodes, and sometimes half-floating. Leaves or- 

 bicular or kidney-shaped, variable in size, but usually about 1 in. diameter, 

 crenate, and rather thick, glabrous or pubescent, on petioles varying from 

 |- in. to 2 or 3 in. long. Flowers small, 3 or 4 together, in little heads clus- 

 tered with the petioles, and either sessile or on peduncles varying much in 

 length. Fruits rather large for the genus, orbicular, near 2 lines diameter, 

 with 2 obtuse and not very prominent ribs on each side of each carpel. — 

 H. lurida, Hance in Walp. Ann. ii. 690. 



In rice-fields and swamps, Champion and others. Common in tropical Asia and Africa, 

 found also in South America, Australia, and New Zealand, and extending northward to Loo- 

 choo and Bonin. 



2. H. rotundifolia, Roxb.; DC. Prod. iv. 64; Wight, Ic. t. 564. A 

 much smaller and more slender plant than the last. Leaves from \ to % in. 

 diameter, orbicular or reniform, 5- or 7-lobed, and crenately toothed, glabrous 

 or hispid underneath, on slender petioles. Flowers small, about 10 to 20 

 together, in globular sessile or shortly pedunculate heads. Fruits about f line 

 in diameter, with one acute prominent rib on each side of each carpel. — 

 H. perexigua, Hance in Walp. Ann. ii. 691. 



Common in rice-fields and damp half-shady places, Champion and others. Extends over 

 the greater part of India and the Archipelago, and northward to the Philippines, South 

 China, and Loochoo. 



2. COEIANDRXJM, Linn. 

 Flowers in compound umbels, the outer petals of the umbel larger than 

 the others. Fruit globular, crowned by the conspicuous teeth of the calyx, 



