168 CHERVIL. 



is cylindrical, glabrous, striated, fistulous, and branched, and 

 rises to the height of about two feet. The leaves are alternate, 

 somewhat amplexicaul, twice or thrice winged ; the leaflets are 

 pinnatifid, ovate-cordate, with deep incised segments, and of a 

 delicate pale green colour. The flowers are disposed in um- 

 bels placed laterally at the summit of the branches, composed 

 of three or four pubescent rays ; the umbellules are small and 

 furnished with an involucre of about three linear leaves. The 

 calyx is an indistinct rim. The five petals are white, unequal, 

 cordate, spreading, and slightly inflexed at the point. The 

 filaments are also five, thread- shaped, spreading, and tipped 

 with roundish anthers. The germen is inferior, oblong, with two 

 short awl-shaped styles terminated by simple stigmas. The 

 fruit is large, smooth, and shining, linear, tapering upwards, 

 with a short angular beak marked with five ridges, and is 

 crowned by the flattened disk to which the styles adhere ; the 

 carpels are destitute of I'idges. The seeds are oblong, smooth, 

 deeply furrowed in front, and nearly black when ripe. Plate 11, 

 fig. 3, (c) floret magnified; {b) the fruit; (c) the carpels as 

 they separate at maturity. 



This species of Chervil is found wild in hedges and about 

 gardens- from which it is thought to have escaped, being very 

 frequently cultivated as an esculent vegetable. It is annual, 

 and flowers in June and July. 



The generic name is a title given by Pliny to a plant nearly 

 allied to this, but the derivation is unknown. The garden 

 Chervilis sometimes included in the genus chaerophyllum. The 

 common beaked parsley, or rough Chervil {Jnthriscus vulgaris'), 

 bears a near resemblance to the species now before us, and was 

 gathered in mistake by the Dutch soldiers who were in England 

 in 1745, and some of them were poisoned by it. The different 

 structure of the fruit is a sufficient distinctive mark, when that 

 can be found, being ovate, conical, and covered with hooked 

 bristles. If the fruit is not perfected, the uniform petals, the 

 many-rayed umbels, and the stems swollen beneath the joints, 

 are distinguishina; characters. 



Culture. — The seeds may be sown in drills from six to nine 

 inches apart, or broad cast. The best time for sowing is in 

 autumn, soon after the seeds are ripe ; the plants thus raised 

 continue green all the winter, and flower about the end of April. 



