252 UMBELLIFERJE. Mollugo. 



the lobes more or less purple : stamens many. Eohrbach in Mart. Fl. Bras. xiv 2 . 

 310, t. 70. 



A very variable species, widely distributed around the globe. It has been collected near Fort 

 Mohave (Cooper), and is frequent in saline or alkaline valleys through the interior from N. Nevada 

 to Colorado and New Mexico, often with much broader leaves than is usual in the sea-coast forms. 



3. MOLLUGO, Linn. CARPET-WEED. 



Calyx 5-cleft nearly to the base ; the lobes herbaceous,- membranously margined. 

 Petals none. Stamens 3 or 5, rarely twice as many, hypogynous. Styles 3. Cap- 

 sule free, thin-membranaceous, 3 - 5-celled, loculicidally 3 - 5-valved, the partitions 

 breaking away from the persistent central placenta. Seeds several in each cell, 

 longitudinally sulcate on the back. Annuals, low and much branched, glabrous, 

 not succulent ; leaves linear to obovate-spatulate, entire, opposite and apparently 

 verticillate ; stipules obsolete ; flowers mostly on long pedicels and axillary. 



About a dozen species in the warmer regions of the globe. The following is the only one in- 

 digenous to N. America. 



1. M. verticillata, Linn. Prostrate, covering the ground, slender : leaves spat- 

 ulate to linear-oblanceolate, an inch long or less : pedicels umbellately fascicled at 

 the nodes, slender, 2 or 3 lines long : sepals and oblong-ovoid capsule about \\ lines 

 long : seeds reniform, shining. liohrbach, 1. c. 240, t. 55. 



On light sandy soils from the Columbia River southward ; at Eagle Creek, near Shasta, and 

 at McCumber's Flat (Brewer, Newberry) ; from Arizona to Colorado and New Mexico, and fre- 

 quent in the Atlantic States as a weed in cultivated grounds : thence southward to the W. Indies 

 and Brazil. 



ORDER XLV. UMBELLIFERZE. 



Herbs with small flowers in umbels (sometimes contracted into heads), five epi- 

 gynous stamens and petals, and two styles ; the calyx adnate to the 2-celled ovary, 

 which contains a solitary ovule suspended from the summit of each cell ; and the 

 fruit splitting into a pair of dry seed-like indehiscent carpels. Seed with a minute 

 embryo in hard albumen. Petals mostly valvate in the bud. Stem commonly 

 hollow. Leaves mainly alternate, mostly compound, often decompound : the petiole 

 expanded or sheathing at base. Umbels usually themselves umbellate, forming a 

 compound umbel : this is then usually called the umbel, and the partial umbels are 

 called umbellets. The bracts under the general umbel, when present, form an invo- 

 lucre; those under the umbellets, an involucel. The enlarged base of the styles, or 

 the common base of the two, takes the name of stylopodium : it is often surrounded 

 by or confluent with an epigynous disk. Each of the two carpels is commonly 

 traversed by 5 longitudinal ribs : in the intervals between them are usually lodged 

 one or more longitudinal canals containing aromatic oil, the vittce or oil-tubes. The 

 face by which the two carpels cohere is the commissure : a slender prolongation of 

 the axis between them is the carpophore : it is apt to split into two branches, a 

 carpel suspended for some time from the tip of each. 



A family of almost 200 genera and much above a thousand species, dispersed over all parts of 

 the world, but abundant only in warm, temperate, or cooler regions. Many are poisonous (Hem- 

 lock, Water- Hemlock, &c.) : others afford esculent roots (Parsnip, Carrot), or their herbage may 

 be eaten after blanching (Celery) ; several are innocent and aromatic (Dill, Fennel), at least the 

 fruits (Caraway, Anise, &c.). 



