CHAPTER TENTH. 

 THE UMBELLIFERM. 



EXERCISE LXVI. 

 Structure of its Flowers and Fruit. 



THE plants of this family blossom in umbels. An um- 

 bel, with its pedicels all starting from one point, like the 

 rays of an umbrella, is a feature of plants so striking that 

 it has naturally given its name to the group that bears it. 

 But, as you saw that a plant blossoming in a head did not 

 necessarily belong to the Compositae, so you are now to 

 find that all umbel-bearing plants are not, therefore, placed 

 among Umbelliferae. It has been found that certain plants 

 blossoming in umbels are alike in many other respects, 

 and are at the same time unlike all other plants in the 

 structure of their flowers, and particularly of their fruit. 

 These umbelliferous plants constitute the family we are 

 about to examine. 



They are " natives chiefly of the northern parts of the 

 northern hemisphere, inhabiting groves, thickets, plains, 

 marshes, and waste places. They appear to be extremely 

 rare in all tropical countries except at considerable ele- 

 vations, where they gradually increase in number, as the 

 other parts of the vegetation acquire an extra-tropical or 

 mountain character." 



At the outset let me warn you that this is an order of 

 plants to be suspected. Though some of its species are 

 excellent food, yet some, when eaten, are deadly poisons, 



