ANGELICA 53 



This plant is called Wood March, Sanicle, Wood Sanicle, Self- 

 Heal Sanicle. 



Sanicle used to be regarded as a powerful vulnerary, and is very 

 acrimonious like all Umbelliferee, but it is not employed as a drug 

 to-day. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



123. Sanicula europ&a, L. Stem erect, smooth, shiny, radical 

 leaves petiolate, palmate, glossy, lobed, trifid, serrate, flowers pinkish- 

 white, in a panicle, fruit ovate, with hooked bristles. 



Angelica (Angelica sylvestris, L.) 



At West Wittering in Sussex this plant has been found in beds of 

 Interglacial age, when the rigour of the Glacial period was much 

 modified by a milder interlude. It is found to-day in the North 

 Temperate and Arctic Zones in Arctic Europe, Siberia, up to Dahuria, 

 and West Asia. In Great Britain it is widespread and common, 

 existing at the high altitude of 2700 ft. in the Highlands. 



Angelica is almost entirely a plant of low-lying ground, that is, 

 where there is continual moisture and shade, growing in woods at a 

 low elevation, or on moist mountain heights, where the conditions 

 are sufficiently humid. It may also be found on the borders of 

 streams and in marshes, but always where there is more or less 

 shelter from the sun. 



The plant is erect in habit. The stem is stout, tall, rather downy 

 above, near the umbels, but otherwise hairless, green or purplish, 

 hollow, furrowed. The leaves are triangular in outline, much divided, 

 that is ternately. The leaflets are large, bipinnate, equally toothed, 

 stalked, obliquely oblong to egg-shaped, lance-shaped, equal, or cut, 

 and not running down the stem. They may be rather heart-shaped 

 at the base. The lateral leaflets are somewhat unequal below. The 

 sheaths are large. The flowerheads are pinkish-white, in large, ter- 

 minal compound umbels, with 30-40 rays. There are no, or few 

 (1-2), bracts which fall. But there are a few awl-like, persistent, small 

 bracteoles. The calyx-lobes are small or wanting. The petals are 

 slightly hooded. The florets are nearly regular. The fruit is egg- 

 shaped, flattened along the back, the carpels ridged, winged. The 

 slender styles are bent over. 



Angelica is often as much as 5-6 ft. high. The flowering season is 

 from June to August. The plant is a deciduous, herbaceous perennial, 

 reproduced by division. It ought to be cultivated in our gardens. 



