May, 1903.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



99 



segments are glaucous and fleshy, as is characteristic of 

 lialophytcs, or plants which grow in places charged with 

 salt, in the Whorled Caraway (Carum verficillatntn) the 



leaves are pinnate, the 

 pinnae dividing into 

 numerous hair-like seg- 

 ments which, insteail 

 ■ if lying in one plane 

 us inmiist leaves, spread 

 out all round the leaf 

 stem, like the whorls of 

 the Lady's Bed-straw, 

 making the outline of 

 the leaves cylindrical. 

 The genus Bupleurum, 

 (IT Hare's-ear, includes 

 several slender herlia- 

 ceous plants, in the 

 British Islands Con- 

 fined to southern 

 England, which are 

 ^l IJW -^ ^Jjl ^M^^ll jy^ rendered verv un- 



^ailr)\ ilm TMJ^ likeraostoftheiral- 



^i<!ri¥\\ II///A \l/.^^ lies by their simplie 



lanceolate leaves. 

 One species, B. 

 rotundifolium, has 

 broad pointed leaves which 

 completely embrace the stem 

 — a unique form among our 

 British UmbelUferas. The 

 aberrant simple-umbelled 

 group which has before been 

 referred to differ from the 

 type in their leaves as well as 

 in their inflorescence. The 

 Marsh Pennywort has pel- 

 tate leaves like those of the 

 true Pennywort, Cotelydon 

 UinhiJicus — roiuid in outline 

 with the stalk inserted in 

 the middle. Sanicula and 

 Astrantia have pretty palm- 

 ate leaves— a niuuber of 

 segments springiugfroni one 

 point, like a fan. Many of the Umbelhferee are, no 

 doubt, protected from the attacks of feeding animals, 

 large or small, l>y the virulent or acrid properties re- 

 siding in their leaves and stems. In one, the Sea- 

 Holly, recourse is had to a device familiar in otiier 

 families — the production of an armament in the form 

 of spines. In this species, too, which lives on the dry 

 burning sea sands, the leaves are grey and leathery, 

 and protecleil by thick layers of cells from too great 

 transpiration. 



Next we come to the flowers, which, as already 

 stated, are usually arranged in compound umbels. 

 That is, the flowering stem divides into a number 

 of branches whii'h spring from one point and reacli 

 about the same level ; at which level each branch 

 again similarly divides, each division bearing a ter- 

 minal flower. The result is a large circular flattisli 

 surface of blossoms. The advantage to the phmt 

 of such an arrangement is that it renders the inflor- 

 escence conspicuous — advertises the flowers to the 

 Imney-feeding insects, which come and by their 

 visits carry the pollen from plant to ])lant. In 

 all our JJmbelUferx, each flower is (piife small ; but 

 the result of this aggregation is a most conspicuans 

 inflorescence. Moreover, the outermost flowers of the 



umbel are often irregular, their outer petals, which 

 alone of all the flowers have room for expansion, 

 being considerably enlarged, thus further assisting 

 to render the flower-mass conspicuous. We may note 

 the same device carried still further in the flat flower. 

 masses of the Guelder-rose, Viburnnm Op^ilus, which 

 lielongs to an allied order. In this shrub the petals of 

 the outer flowers have been developed at the expense of tlie 

 essential organs, and these outer blossoms consist nierolv 

 of a large white corolla — a pure advertisement — while all 

 the business of the plant is carried on by the comparatively 

 inconspicuous flowers which are massed in the centre of 

 the cluster. The flowers of the Umbelliferie are of simple 

 structure. There is little room or need for a cal)-x, and it 

 is adherent to the ovary, and its free part, which forms the 

 conspicuous protecting sepals in so many flowers, is 

 wanting. The small petals are- five in number, wide- 

 spreading, notched, usually of light colour — white, or less 



FlO. 3.— Samphire (Crifh- 

 mam maritimtim) . Half 

 natural size. 



Fig. 4. — the .>Sea-llollv at Ilomr. 



K. Welch, Pholo. 



commonly pink or yellow. Tin 

 spreading between the petals. 



! stamens are five, long and 

 The middle of the flower 



