1 86 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



Cow-parsnip (Heracleum Sphondylium, L.) 



With its characteristic and conspicuous seeds it is not surprising 

 that the Cow Parsnip has been found in Interglacial beds at Pakefield, 

 Suffolk, and in Late Glacial beds at Twickenham, Middlesex; limited 

 to the North Temperate Zone, it is found in Europe, North Africa, 

 and N. Asia. Hogweed (another name for this plant) is very common, 

 and found in every part of Great Britain, in the Highlands ascending 

 to 2700 ft. 



Hogweed is one of those common wayside plants that help to 

 enable one to picture the flora of a roadside ditch, for there is probably 

 not a road in the kingdom where there are boundary hedges where 

 this very ubiquitous species does not grow. It is fond of securing for 

 itself the ample shelter and space of a shelving ditch where it receives 

 moisture and good light, and where rich loam affords a suitable subsoil 

 for it. So tall and handsome a plant cannot escape notice by the way- 

 side. The stem is tall, hollow, furrowed, and hairy. 



The second Greek name, meaning vertebra, refers to its jointed 

 character. The leaves are large, triangular, with lobes on either side 

 of a common stalk, very much divided, usually into 5 segments, oblong, 

 with acute teeth. They are broadly sheathed at the base, and in the 

 bud the sheaths form a conical cap over the young plant. 



Not the least conspicuous part of this wild flower is the wide umbel 

 of the flower. The umbel contains general and partial involucres or 

 whorls of leaflike organs with many rays. It is generally flat, and 

 the flowers are large, white, or pink, with notched petals, with bent-in 

 points, and the outer florets are in a ray. The fruit is nearly round, 

 with a short style, and with a notch. 



Hogweed is sometimes 10 ft. high, but more usually 4 to 6. It 

 blooms in May and June. It is a deciduous, herbaceous plant, propa- 

 gated by division. 



The flowers are often polygamous, and the outer ones are rayed, 

 the whole umbel large and conspicuous. In some cases there are only 

 hermaphrodite flowers, elsewhere the partial umbels have male flowers 

 only at the ray, the other umbels being male throughout, or perhaps 

 female. The plant has a strong, but not altogether pleasant smell. 

 The petals are bent inwards. The styles are short. It is visited by 

 numerous insects, so that cross-pollination is the usual thing. The 

 visitors are numerous, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Hemip- 

 terous insects, as many as 1 18 having been observed. 



