98 



KNOWLEDGE, 



[May, 1903. 



characters of the British representatives of the order, that 

 these genera depart from the usual plant-form of the 

 UmbeUifene in other respects also. 



As a group, the VnibeUiferas are remarkaljle for the 

 powerful secretions produced by many species. They are 

 a strong-smelling and strong-tasting order, some useful, 

 many liighly poisonous. Among the Britisli species, good 

 exemplifications of both characters arc found. Conspicuous 

 among the noxious species are the Hemlock {Coninm 

 maculatum), and the various species of Water-Dropwort 

 {(Enanfhe). The poison in these plants is narcotico- 

 acrid. producing delirium, palsy, and aspliyxia. The Water- 

 Hemlock (Cicnta I'iro^a) is equally dangerous, producing 

 effects similar to those of prussic acid — tetanic convulsions, 

 ending fatally. Others of our British species lose their 

 acidity by cultivation or bleaching. Thus we get our 



Fig. 2.— Tlie Sainphii-c .it Home. 



U. WBt.cn, r 



Carrots and Parsueps, the enlarged tap-roots of species of 

 the genera Bavciis and Pmtmaca. The esculent Celery is 

 produced by bleaching the leaf-stems of Avhnn graveofens, 

 a common inhabitant of salt-marshes. The Parsley oi our 



gardens is a curly-leaved form of Cannn Petrnseh'num, a 

 plant of unknown origin, which readily escapes and makes 

 itself at home, as a coarse strong-growing plant, on old 

 walls and limestone rocks. Of useful sjiecies not in 

 cultivation, the best known is the aromatic Samphire 

 {Crithmvm marilimum.), a plant of the sea-rocks, which 

 makes a delicious pickle. The succulent roots of Sea- 

 Holly {Erijngivm maritimnm) and Angelica (Arrhaiigolira 

 ojficinalis) are sometimes candied, and have medicinal 

 properties. The well-known Caraway seeds are the 

 aromatic fruits of Carnm Carni ; and the fruits of Anise 

 {PimpincUa Anifnm), Coriander {Coriandruw sntiviim), 

 and others, have similar properties. 



The British Umhelliferse, nearly seventy in numln'r, form 

 too large a group to permit of a survey by genera and 

 species within the limits of a single article. Wc may, 

 instead, take up in turn each part of the plant, note 

 its characteristic form or forms, and consider any 

 striking departures from this form which our 

 British species present. First, then, as regards roots 

 and root-stocks. A characteristic form among the 

 UmbeUiferx is the tap-root, as we see made tleshy 

 by cultivation in the Carrot. Others, such as the 

 Whorled Caraway and some species of QCuanthe, have 

 a hunch of fleshy fibres, largest near tlie extremity. 

 Cannn Bulhorafitaiiiim, a rare English species found 

 cliiefly near Cherry Hinton, has a brown sub-globular 

 tuber. In the Pig-nut, Biinium flexxtns^nn, a common 

 spring woodland plant, the tuberous form is more 

 pronounced, being of irregular shape and com- 

 paratively deeply buried ; it is sweet and nut-like in 

 flavour, as all of us who have spent our childhood in 

 the country well know. The Sea-Holly possesses far- 

 creeping succulent root-stocks, which burrow deep in 

 the sea-sands, and send up shoots into the light and 

 air above. 



The stems of our Umbelliferous plants do not 

 jiresent any great range of form. The upright 

 liranched hollow stem of the Wild Chervil ((Jhae- 

 ropliyllvm sylvestre) or Gout-weed (^yopodium 

 Podoi/raria) may Ije taken as a type. In our larger 

 species, such as the Cow-Parsnep (HeracJeum Sphmi- 

 'Jylium) or Wild Angelica (Angelica sylvestris), 

 these stout hollow stems, like pillars, designed to 

 liear the weight and stress of the large spreading 

 leaves and umbels, form striking and interesting 

 I'xamples of plant architecture. At each node a solid 

 partition extends across the column, and at the places 

 thus strengthened arise the leaves and axillary 

 branches. In the Marsh Pennywort (Hydrocotyje 

 vulgaris) the stem is strikingly different, being weak 

 and creeping, emitting rootlets on one side of each 

 node and leaf and flower-stems on the other. 

 Several other marsh species by their decumbent 

 habit and rooting at the nodes connect this extreme 

 fiu-m with the more typical kind of stem. The 

 Samphire, alone among om- British species, can 

 ]iroduce a perennial elongated woody stem from which 

 annual branches arise. 



The leaves of the VmbeUiferse are usually charac- 



1 eristic — large, triangular or oblong in outline, and 



much divided. Sometimes they are long and simjilv 



jiinnate, as in the Parsnep (Fttstlnaca), Burnet 



Saxifrage {Pimpinella), and Water-Parsnep (Helns- 



i-iadium), but more frequently liipinnate or 



tripinuate, with finely cut segments ; in some 



cases the final divisions are hair-like, as in the Fennel 



[Fceniculum officinale) and Bald-Money (Meiini Athaman- 



ficum) : in other cases, ovate-serrate, as in the famihar 



Wild Angelica. In the sea-haunting Samphire the linear 



