HERACLEUM 



HERBARIUM 



1459 



all soils, but prefer a rich moist soil, and often do well 

 at the edge of running water. They should not be 

 allowed to go to seed. If these plants are grown on an 

 open, sunny lawn, they should be liberally supplied with 

 moisture at all times. Propagated by division or seed. 



A. Plant biennial (or biennial-perennial). 

 sibiricum, Linn. Lvs. scabrous to hirsute, pinnate or 

 deeply pinnatifid; Ifts. oblong or ovate; segms. lobed or 

 palrnately parted, serrate: fls. yellowish, without rays; 



clear white, large, in umbels 4 ft. across, produced in 

 great number. Gn. 59, p. 148; 74, p. 526. G.W. 12, 

 p. 410; 15, p. 636. This noble species comes from 

 the Caucasus. Seeds were sown at Geneva, Switzer- 

 land, in 1893, germinated in 1894, and the plants were 

 8 ft. high, in 1896. It grows 9 ft. high, and perhaps 

 more. Said to be of easy cult., preferring deep rich 

 soil that is cool and damp; the roots, and especially 

 the tap-root, should remain uninjured, and it is said 



H a,iiiia,u^j- H CUW^A, ov^ic*^. . JY*""*"") ,T* Ui iwu<, ic*j.c,, that it thrives better if not transplanted, although the 

 petals about equal: fr. subrotund-oval, deeply notched seedlings may be handled in pots. T H R t 



at the apex. Eu., N. Asia. Height 5-6 ft., blooming in 

 summer, forming a handsome plant with the much-cut 

 foliage. 



platytaenium, Boiss. (H. eminens, Lange). Lvs. often 

 2 ft. across, tomentose beneath, the lower ones trisect 

 and the upper ones less deeply cut, segms. stalked and 

 obtusely palmate-lobed : fls. white, in harry umbels 

 sometimes 1 ft. across: fr. large, hairy. W. Asia. Said 

 to be specially valuable for 

 woods and wild-gardens : 4-5 ft. 

 Sometimes perennial. 



persicum, Desf. Lvs. large, 

 once- or twice-pinnate, gla- 

 brous above and pubescent 

 beneath, the segms. in 3 or 4 

 pairs, much cut into narrow 

 divisions: fls. white, in large 

 somewhat pubescent umbels. 

 W. Asia. Reaches 12 ft. in 

 height. Sometimes perennial. 



pubescens, Bieb. (H. caucd- 

 sicum, Stev.). Lvs. pinnatisect, 

 pubescent beneath and gla- 

 brous above, the segms. 2 or 3 

 pairs, with elliptic lobes: fls. 

 white, the setulose umbels 

 many-rayed: fr. elliptic, pilose, 

 only the margin aculeate. Asia 

 Minor. Sometimes perennial. 

 Var. Wahelmsii, Boiss. (H. 

 Wilhelmsii, Fisch. & Mey.) 

 differs in its prominently acu- 

 leate fr. 



Lehmannianum, Bunge. St. 

 stout: Ivs. glabrous above and 

 pubescent beneath, the lower 

 ones pinnatisect; segms. 2-3 

 pairs and pinnatifid and at 

 apex 3-parted, the lobes short- 

 ovate and acute and coarsely 

 toothed: fls. many, dull pink, 

 in large umbels. Turkestan; 

 3-7 ft. Gn. 66, p. 259. 



AA. Plant perennial. 



lanatum, Michx. Lvs. trisect, tomentose beneath; 

 segms. petiolulate, rotund, cordate, lobed and sharply 

 serrate; Ifts. of the involucel lanceolate: fr. oval-orbicu- 

 lar. N. Amer., W. Asia. Mn. 4, p. 164. A striking 

 coarse pubescent plant of low or moist grounds, 4-8 ft. 

 high. 



villdsum, Fisch. (H. giganteum, Hort.). Lvs. sinuate- 

 pinnatifid, sharply serrate, acuminate, woolly-tomen- 

 tose beneath; Ifts. of involucres short, bristly, deflexed: 

 fls. white or whitish, in umbels sparingly rayed: fr. 

 elliptic, ciliate, woolly on the back. Caucasus. G.C. 

 III. 3:437; 20:271. J.H. III. 49:115. G. 7:537. G.W. 

 7, p. 357. Gn.W. 20:47. Gn.M. 14:171. A bold spe- 

 cies, reaching 8-12 ft. in height. Said to be sometimes 

 biennial. 



1810. The Goose Tree of the herbalists. 



Mantegazzianum, Sommier & Levier. A recent intro. 

 into cultivation 'and said to be the finest of the 

 genus: Ivs. 3 ft. long, deeply cut into many oblong- 

 lanceolate notched lobes, making a gigantic clump: fls. 



HERBA IMPIA of the old herbalists is Gifola 

 germanica. 



HERBALS. Books on plants, published from the 

 fourteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century, 

 were largely written from the medicinal point of view, 

 and were often called herbals. The scientific point of 

 view of plant - knowledge is 

 conveniently dated from 1753, 

 when Linnaeus published his 

 "Species Plantarum." Of the 

 herbalists, John Gerarde is 

 probably read most at the pre- 

 sent time. His style is chatty, 

 quaint and personal. One of 

 the notions accepted by the 

 early herbalists was that of the 

 vegetable lamb, which is pic- 

 tured in this work under Cibo- 

 tium (Fig. 961). Another idea 

 that fascinated these worthy 

 plant-lovers was that of the 

 barnacle goose tree. Fig. 1810 

 is reproduced from a book by 

 Duret, 1605, and shows how 

 the fruits that fall upon dry 

 land become "flying birds, 

 while those that fall into the 

 water become "swimming 

 fishes." Other conceptions of 

 this goose tree are reproduced 

 in the "Gardeners' Magazine," 

 35:749 (1892). Almost every 

 large library possesses a few 

 herbals, as Matthiolus, Bauhin, 

 L'Obel and Fuchsius. The 

 largest collection of herbals in 

 America is the one given by 

 the late E. Lewis Sturtevant to 

 the Missouri Botanical Garden 

 at St. Louis. See Agnes Arber 

 (Mrs. E. A. Newell Arber), 

 "Herbals: Their Origin and 



Evolution," a recent British work. The herbals are 

 invaluable in tracing the growth of ideas about plants. 



HERBARIUM. An herbarium is a collection of dried 

 plants systematically named, and arranged in cases 

 for ready reference and protection. In the study of 

 systematic botany such collections have existed for 

 many years, and they are an absolute necessity to the 

 student, supplementing field work. Indeed, without 

 an herbarium, scientific systematic work would be 

 practically impossible, for the identification of species, 

 the study of the plants of any given area and the 

 comparison of the flora of different regions can be con- 

 ducted thoroughly only where specimens of the plants 

 under consideration are at hand and can be readily 

 consulted. Type specimens of new species are deposited 

 in herbaria, and reference is constantly being made to 

 these types to settle the identity of species when meager 

 descriptions only are available. Floras of distant regions 

 have been written by those who have never visited 

 the places, but have worked on the collections that 



