70 



CONVERSATION THE SEVENTH. 



CLASS 5. CONCLUDED. DESCRIPTION OF AN UMBEL. 



UMBELLIFEROUS PLANTS. ELDER. TEAK-WOOD. 



TAMARISK-TREE. SU ; MACH. FLAX: ITS USES. 



PAPER. 



MOTHER. 



BY far the greater portion of the order Digynia, in 

 the fifth class, is composed of what are called Um- 

 belliferous or Umbel'late plants, from the Umbels 

 in which their flowers are disposed, in a very 

 curious arrangement. From the top of a straight 

 stalk several smaller ones, called spokes, spread 

 out, like the wires in the inside of an umbrella 

 when it is open (the word umbella, indeed, is 

 the Latin for an umbrella). Each set of spokes 

 forms what is called an Umbel ; and every spoke 

 is terminated by another little umbrella or Um- 

 lellule^ which consists of a number of smaller stalks, 

 with a single flower at the end of each. You 

 cannot have better examples of this tribe than the 

 common Hemlock and garden Parsley. 



