236 



UMBELLIFER.E. 



side. Embryo minute, hanging from the top of the carpophore, 

 and therefore the radicle is superior; cotyledons 2, oblong, 

 changing into seminal leaves through germination. Herbs or 

 subshrubs. Roots various, but often fusiform. Stems cylin- 

 drical or angular, simple or branched, annual or perennial, with 

 the bark or skin usually full of aromatic resinous gum ; medulla 

 in some, as in Ferula, large, with medullary fibres in its sub- 

 stance, similar to the steins of monocotyledonous plants. Leaves 

 alternate, very rarely opposite, except the seminal ones, usually 

 divided into various segments ; petioles usually sheathing at the 

 base : in some, as in the genus Bupleurum, the petioles are 

 changed into phyllodia, as in the section of Acacia called Phyl- 

 lodineee. Flowers umbellate, white, yellow, pink, or blue, often 

 with either the styles or stamens abortive, monoecious, dioecious, 

 or polygamous, and some of them sterile. Umbels usually per- 

 fect, botli general and partial, in both the rays are numerous, 

 the general umbel usually surrounded by an involucrutn, and the 

 partial ones by an involucel. 



FIG. 54. 



Umbelliferce hardly differs from Araliacece, the next order. 

 With Saxifragacece it agrees in habit, if Hydrocotyle is compared 

 with Chrysosplenium, and if the sheathing and divided leaves of 

 the two orders are considered. To Geraniacece, De Candolle 

 remarks, that they are allied in consequerice of the cohesion of 

 the carpella around a woody axis, and of the umbellate flowers, 

 which grow opposite the leaves, and also because the affinity of 

 Geraniacece to Vltis, and of the latter to Araliacece, is not to 

 be doubted. The arrangement of this order has only within a 

 few years arrived at any very definite state ; the characters upon 

 which genera and tribes could be formed, were for a long while 

 unsettled ; it is, however, now generally admitted, that the num- 

 ber and developement of the ribs of the fruit, the presence or 

 absence of the reservoirs called vittse, and the form of the albu- 

 men, are the leading peculiarities, which require to be attended 

 to. The plants are chiefly extra-tropical, inhabiting groves, 

 thickets, plains, marshes, and waste places. 



The properties of this order require to be considered under 

 two points of view ; firstly, those of the vegetation ; and se- 

 condly those of the fructification. The character of the former 

 generally is suspicious, and often poisonous in a high degree ; 

 as in the case of hemlock, fool's-parsley, mater-hemlock, and 

 others, which are deadly poison. Nevertheless, the blanched 

 petioles and stems of celery, the leaves of parsley and samphire, 

 the roots of skirret, the carrot, the parsnip, the arracacha, and 

 the tubers of (Endnlhe pimpinelloides, and Bimirnn bulbocds- 



tanum, are wholesome articles of food. The fruit, vulgarly 

 called the seeds, is in no case dangerous, and is usually a warm 

 and agreeable aromatic, as caraway, coriander, dill, anise, &c. 

 From the stem, when wounded, sometimes flows a stimulant, 

 tonic, aromatic, gum-resinous concretion, of much use in medi- 

 cine ; as opopanax, which is produced from Opopanax Chirdnium 

 in the Levant, and assafcetida from the Ferula of that name in 

 Persia. Gum ammoniac is obtained from Dorema Ammonia- 

 cum. It is a gum resin of a pale yellow colour, having a 

 faint, but not unpleasant, smell, with a bitter nauseous taste. 

 Internally applied, it is a valuable deobstruent, and expectorant. 

 It is said by Dr. Paris to be, in combination with rhubarb, a 

 useful medicine in mesenteric affections, by correcting viscid 

 secretions. (Ainslie 1. p. 160.) The substance called galbanum 

 is produced by Galbanum officinale, a plant of this order. 

 It is a stimulant of the intestinal canal and uterus, and is 

 found to allay that nervous irritability, which often accom- 

 panies hysteria. (Ainslie 1. p. 143.). JEthusa cynapium has 

 been found by Professor Ficinus, of Dresden, to contain a pe- 

 culiar alkali, which he calls Cynapia. (Turner, p. 654.) The 

 fruit of Ligusticum Ajarvain of Roxb. the Ptychotis Ajdwan of 

 D. C. is prescribed in India in diseases of horses and cows. 

 (Ainslie i. p. 38.) The Prangos pabularia is a valuable fodder- 

 plant in Thibet. 



Synopsis of the genera. 



SUBORDER I. ORTHOSPE'RIM:. Albumen flat or flattish in- 

 side, neither involute nor convolute. 



1. Umbels simple or imperfect. Fruit destitute of vittce, 

 TRIBE I. 



HYDROCOTY'LE;E. Fruit contracted from the sides ; mericarps 

 convex or acute on the back : with the 5 primary ribs at length 

 obsolete: lateral ones marginating or in the commissure, which 

 is flat ; intermediate usually more than carinal. Petals entire. 



1 HYDROCOTYLE. Margin of calyx obsolete ; and the tube 

 rather compressed. Petals ovate, with a straight point. Fruit 

 biscutate. Mericarps with 5 filiform ribs : carinal and lateral 

 ones often obsolete : the 2 intermediate ones joined. Involu- 

 crum few-leaved. 



2 CRA'NTZIA. Tube of calyx subglobose ; limb very short, 

 hardly any. Petals roundish, obtuse. Fruit roundish. Meri- 

 carp unequal, with 3-5 filiform ribs. Vittae 1 in each furrow 

 and 2 in the commissure. Involucrum 5-6-leaved. 



3 DIMETOPIA. Teeth of calyx obsolete. Petals oval-oblong. 

 Styles short. Fruit didymous. Mericarps somewhat contracted 

 at the commissure, unequal, one muricated with tubercles, and 

 the other echinated with conical prickles. Involucrum of 5 

 linear leaves. 



4 ERIGE'NIA. Margin of calyx obsolete. Petals equal, obo- 

 vate. Styles long. Fruit oval, laterally compressed. Meri- 

 carps gibbously convex, marked by 3 stripes. Commissure nar- 

 row, flat. Umbels imperfect. True involucrum none, but in 

 place of it there is a multifid leaf, Involucels of a few unequal 

 leaflets. 



