CONVERSATION XII. 



UMBELLIFEROUS IVY CORNEL WITCH-HAZEL SANDALWOKT 

 LORANTH, AND BIRTHWORT TRIBES. 



As the earlier spring flowers disappeared, the 

 fields, hedges, and ditches began to display great 

 numbers of what the children were taught to call 

 umbelliferous flowers. These had their small 

 blossoms arranged at the end of little rays, all 

 spreading out from the stem like the spokes of an 

 umbrella, forming what is called an umbel; and 

 they generally bore at the end of each principal 

 ray a number of smaller rays, making altogether 

 what is called a compound umbel. 



As most of these plants come into blossom at the 

 same time, the children were desired to collect as 

 many different kinds as possible ; and when their 

 father examined them, he found wild carrot and 

 celery, and several species of parsnep and parsley, 

 besides archangel and hemlock. " Some of these 

 plants," he said, "in their cultivated state are 

 very useful to us as vegetables, but they are not 



