336 THE ALPINE FLORA 



dropworts and other such. From the roots and stems 

 of some species are extracted valuable juices and gum- 

 resins, Asa fcetida, an antispasmodic, Thapsia, a violent 

 irritant, Dorema, a stimulant and cathartic ; the root of 

 Sumbul, strongly scented with musk, is a stimulant 

 recommended in case of cholera. 



For these reasons the order may be rapidly dismissed 

 from a cultural point of view and the descriptions of 

 species in the main be treated botanically, as they are of 

 interest rather to the collector of wild flowers than to the 

 artistic gardener. 



The characteristic of this order is, as the name implies, 

 an umbellate arrangement of the inflorescence. The 

 stem is almost always hollow, with well defined nodes ; 

 the leaves alternate, seldom entire (Bupleurum excepted), 

 usually much and deeply divided; flowers generally white, 

 occasionally yellow, seldom rose or blue, in umbels, which 

 are mostly compound, but sometimes, as in Astrantia, 

 simple or even, as in Eryngium, capitular. Calyx-teeth five, 

 petals five ; stamens five, alternate with petals; styles two. 



Eryngium 



"Eng.: Sea-holly; "Fr.: Panicant; Ger.: Mannstreue. 



Individually the flowers are small and insignificant, but 

 the dense heads into which they are packed and the 

 whorl of bracts forming an involucre or cup below at 

 once arrest attention; the teeth of the calyx are spinous 

 and the fruit a blunted oval, covered with scales. 



E. alpinum (PI. XLVI) or Chardon bleu, Reine de 

 TAlpe, Chardon-Roland, Chardon beni. The number 

 of popular names by which one plant, and that a very 

 local one in Switzerland, is known, tells the high place it 

 holds in general esteem. Nor can any picture be much 

 more perfect a stately, hard, strong stem, which at the 



