UMBELLlFER^-CARROT FAMILY 



COW-PARSNIP 



Herddeum landtum 



Heracleum, Greek, devoted to Hercules. 



Perennial. Native. A conspicuous giant herb, four 

 to eight feet high, bearing a plate-like cluster of small, 

 white flowers and standing in low, moist grounds; is 

 found in full bloom in late June and early July. Labra- 

 dor and Newfoundland to Alaska, south to North Caro- 

 lina, Utah, and California. 



Root. — Large, fleshy, Parsnip-shaped; juice extremely 

 acrid. 



Stem. — Four to eight feet high, one to two inches in 

 diameter; at first wrapped in matted white hair; hollow, 

 grooved, woolly, often purplish. 



Leaves. — Large, compounded in threes, two feet or 

 more long, downy beneath; leaflets broadly ovate, 

 sharply toothed and cut-lobed, somewhat thin for size; 

 petioles hollow; basal sheaths clasp the stem. . 



Flowers. — White, borne in large, flat, compound umbels 

 six to twelve inches across, eight to thirty rays; rays 

 stout, three to six inches long. Involucre deciduous. 

 Involucels of many linear bracts. Calyx teeth obsolete 

 or small. Petals five, wedge-shaped or clawed, those of 

 the outer flowers obcordate or two-lobed. Stamens five; 

 styles two. 



Fruit. — Of two dry, seed-like carpels, cohering by their 

 inner face, grayish brown when ripe, nearly half an inch 

 long, flattened, with winged margin and notched apex. 



Linnaeus dedicated this plant to Hercules, either 

 because of its size or because, according to Pliny, 



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