374 



UMBELLIFERjE. CLII. CACIIRYS. CLIII. FRANCOS. 



15 C. HU'MILIS (Schousb. tnaroc. p. 118.) plant glabrous; 

 leaves supra-decompound, fleshy ; leaflets linear, trifid, mucro- 

 nate ; leaves of involucra and involucels numerous, lanceolate, 

 undivided; fruit furrowed, smoothish. l/.H. Native of Bar- 

 bary, near Cape Spartel, mixed with Crithum maritimum. Per- 

 haps belonging to a different section. 



Humble Goat's-fennel. PI. % foot. 



SECT. III. LOPHOCA'CHRYS (from Xo^oc, lophos, a crest, and 

 cachrys ; in reference to the species contained in this section 

 having crested or winged fruit). Gen. propr. Koch, umb. in 

 litt. D. C. prod. 4. p. 238. Margin of calyx 5-toothed. Ribs 

 of fruit sharply winged : wings cleft into mucrone-formed teeth : 

 the furrows broad and open. 



16 C. CRISTATA (D. C. prod. 4. p. 238.) plant glabrous; 

 leaves decompound ; leaflets trifid : lobes linear, blunt, short, 

 divaricate ; leaves of involucra and involucels linear ; fruit ovate ; 

 mericarps with 5, rather winged crested ribs, and broad concave 

 furrows. % . H. Native of the Grecian Archipelago, as in the 

 islands of Melos, Samos, and Astypalsea. C. Sicula, D'Urvil. 

 enum. pi. 31. but not of Lin. C. semine fungosa sulcato aspero 

 minore foliis peucedani, Mor. ox. 3. p. 267. sect. 9. t. 1. f. 3. 

 Stem much branched. Teeth of calyx 5, elongated, permanent. 



Cresled-huitcA Goat's-fennel. PI. 2 feet. 



17 C. PU'NGENS (Jan. pi. exsic. Guss. prod. 1. append, p. 7.) 

 plant glabrous ; leaves decompound ; segments or leaflets fili- 

 form, linear, acute, somewhat pungent, elongated ; leaves of in- 

 volucra and involucels linear ; fruit ovate, with distant some- 

 what winged crested ribs, and broad concave furrows. T. H. 

 Native of Calabria and Sicily, in the sand on the sea shore. C. 

 Sicula /3 longifolia, Guss. prod. fl. sic. 1. p. 360. Segments of 

 the leaves elongated, 1-3 inches long. 



Var. f>, echinophora (D. C. prod. 4. p. 238.) leaves decom- 

 pound ; leaflets trifid, lanceolate-linear, acute, rather scabrous 

 from short scattered down, especially on the margins ; leaves of 

 involucra and involucels lanceolate-linear, acuminated, entire, of 

 the involucra deflexed, of the involucels equal in length to the 

 umbellules ; fruit obscurely ribbed ; ribs tubercular, somewhat 

 echinately crested. If.. H. Native of Sicily, and in fields about 

 Naples, and probably of Greece and Spain. C. Sicula, Ten. fl. 

 neap. prod. 19. C. Sicula var. a, Guss. prod. fl. sic. 1. p. 359. 

 There is sometimes a one branched leaf at the base of the rays 

 of the umbel, which may be taken for an involucrum. It is per- 

 fectly distinct from C. peterochlcena ; the upper leaves are oppo- 

 site as in it, but the segments are broader, and striated beneath 

 by elevated nerves. Leaves of involucra broadest at the base. 



Pungent Goat's-fennel. PI. 1 to 3 feet. 



Cult. The species of Cachrys are only to be increased by 

 seeds, which should be sown in autumn. A deep light soil suits 

 them best. 



CLIII. PRA'NGOS (the native name of P. pabularia). 

 Lindl. in journ. sc. lond. 1825. no. 37. p. 7. Lag. obs. apar. 

 1826. p. 15. D. C. coll. mem. 5. p. 67. Pteromarathrum, Koch, 

 in litt. Cachrys spec, of authors." 



LIN. SYST. Pentandria, Digynia. Margin of calyx 5-toothed. 

 Petals ovate, entire, involute at the apex. Stylopodium de- 

 pressed, hardly prominent in the fruit. Transverse section of 

 fruit nearly terete ; commissure broad. Mericarps compressed 

 from the back, with 5 smooth ribs, which are thick at the base, 

 and ending each in a vertical membranous wing on the back. 

 Seed girded by copious vittse. Albumen involute. Perennial 

 herbs, with terete stems. Leaves decompound ; leaflets or 

 segments linear. Umbels numerous. Flowers yellow. 



1 P. PABULA'RIA (Lindl. 1. c. Wall. pi. rar. asiat. 3. t. 212.) 



plant glabrous ; leaves supra-decompound ; segments linear ; 

 leaves of involucra and involucels simple ; fruit corky ; meri- 

 carps with 5 ribs, which are expanded into crenated wings. 

 1. H. Native of the temperate parts of the East Indies, about 

 Imfal and Droz. This plant is called prangos at Imfal and 

 Droz. It is employed in the form of hay as winter fodder for 

 sheep and goats, and frequently for neat cattle, but its seed, 

 when eaten by horses, is said to produce inflammation in the 

 eyes, and temporary blindness. The properties of prangos, as 

 a food, appear to be heating, producing fatness in a space of 

 time singularly short, and also destructive to the Fusciola hepd- 

 tica, or liver flake, which in Britain, after a wet autumn, de- 

 stroys some thousands of sheep by the rot, a disease which has 

 hitherto proved incurable. The last-mentioned properties of 

 the plant, if they be retained in Britain, would render it espe- 

 cially valuable to our' country. But this, taken along with 

 its highly nutritious qualities, its vast yield, its easy cul- 

 ture, its great duration, its capability of flourishing on lands of 

 the most inferior quality and wholly unadapted to tillage, im- 

 part to it a general character of probable utility unrivalled in 

 the history of agricultural productions. When once in pos- 

 session of the ground, for which the preparation is easy, it 

 requires no subsequent culture, save that of cutting and con- 

 verting the foliage into hay. Of the duration of the plant there 

 are several facts. Seeds having been transported westward along 

 with those of yellow lucern above 40 years ago, and sown on the 

 eastern frontier of Kashmeer, where they vegetated, and of 

 which the plants of the first growth still remain in a flourishing 

 condition. In another instance, the seeds were transported 

 eastward, and sown upon rocks near Molbee, where the plants 

 flourished for about 40 years, but in consequence of a long period 

 of drought the prangos perished along with the crops of that dis- 

 strict in general. From various facts it is conceived not unrea- 

 sonable to presume, that by the cultivation of this plant moors 

 and wastes, hitherto uncultivated, and a source of disgrace to 

 British agriculture, may be made to produce large quantities 

 of winter fodder, and that the yield of the highlands, and of 

 downs enjoying a considerable depth of soil, may be trebled. 

 As the prangos has hitherto been of spontaneous growth alone, 

 practices better adapted to the nature of the plant or of the 

 country may be adopted at a future time ; but from a view of 

 its habitudes, Mr. Moorcroft ventures to suggest that the seeds 

 should be dibbled into holes singly, at an inch deep and a foot 

 apart. Yellow lucern, which is also a spontaneous production 

 of the country of the prangos, is of a constitution more hardy 

 than that of the lucern of Europe, and requires no other cul- 

 ture than that necessary for sowing it, and lasts in vigour for 

 a long series of years. It is submitted that, as it naturally 

 grows along with the prangos, it would be well to imitate this 

 habitude. The joint yield is vastly greater than that of the 

 richest meadow land, and is produced on a surface of the most 

 sterile nature, in regard to other herbage. 



Fodder Prangos. PI. 2 to 3 feet. 



2 P. FERULA'CEA (Lindl. journ. sc. lond. 1825. no. 37. p. 7.) 

 leaves supra-decompound, hairy ; leaflets or segments linear- 

 subulate, divaricate ; leaves of involucra and involucels short, 

 undivided ; fruit ovate : ribs expanded into subundulate, entire, 

 membranous wings ; mericarps 3 times longer than their diameter. 

 If. . H. Native of Persia, on hills, Asia Minor, Iberia, Eastern 

 Caucasus, Italy, and Sicily. Cachrys orientalis ferulae folio, 

 Tourn. voy. 2. p. 186. with a figure. Laserpitium ferulaceum, 

 Lin. spec. 358. Cachrys alata, Hoffm. 1. p. 186. Bieb. fl. 

 taur. 1. p. 217. suppl. 215. Cachrys Libanotis, Guss. prod. 1. 

 p. 358. but not of Lin. Thapsia laserpitii, Spreng. umb. spec. 

 32. exclusive of the synonymes? Calyx obsolete. There is 

 a variety with glabrous leaves. The Italian specimen has larger 



