UMBELLIFEROUS PLANTS. 223 



safe otherwise. Celery, for instance, in its wild 

 state is poisonous, and even under cultivation only 

 that part is wholesome which has been blanched by 

 covering it from the light. I am not aware that 

 anything can be said against wild carrot and 

 parsnep ; but fatal accidents have arisen from 

 persons eating what they thought was the root of 

 one of these, but which really proved to be that 

 of the hemlock water drop- wort,* a highly-danger- 

 ous plant, having a yellowish juice in its root and 

 stems. Fools' parsleyf and common hemlockj 

 are also most dangerous plants ; a poor boy who 

 ate a small portion of the root of water hemlock 

 died in an hour and a half; and I am told that 

 it is sometimes fatal to cows, who eat of it when 

 they go down to rivulets to drink. Happily, it is 

 not a very common plant, or we should more fre- 

 quently hear of accidents from it." 



The children did not get a very favourable idea 

 of umbelliferous plants from what their father 

 said ; but they remembered that there were some 

 pleasant exceptions in caraway, coriander, and a 

 few other plants which they had raised in their 



* (Enantlie crocata. f JEthusa cynapium. 



J Conium maculatum. Cicuta virosa. 



