THE PARSLEY AND CARROT FAMILY 315 



Famine, Hermit Island, Kerguelen's Land and the Crozets. 

 Most of the New Zealand species grow on the sub-alpine 

 moors, where our sub- Antarctic genera are generally to be 

 found. Some of the Chilian Azorellas are so compact and 

 covered with hairs, that, at a short distance, they bear a 

 considerable resemblance to madrepore corals. 



Genus Eryngium. 



Thistle-like herbs, with rigid, prickly, often glaucous leaves. Umbels 

 reduced to heads. Flowers mixed with bracts. The roots of the British Sea 

 Holly (Eryngium maritimum) are candied and used as a sweetmeat. Some of 

 the species are cultivated in gardens for the sake of the delicate blue colour of the 

 whole plant. (An old Greek name for a kind of Thistle.) 1 sp. 



Eryngium vesiculosum (The Vesiculate Eryngium). 



A small rigid herb, 2 in. -5 in. high. Leaves toothed, spinous. Flower-heads 

 axillary. Both islands : sandy beaches. Fl. Dec. -Jan. 



Genus Apium. 



Glabrous herbs. Leaves pinnate ; umbels compound, terminal or lateral. A 

 small genus, to which belongs the Celery of our gardens. (A Latin name for the 

 Wild Parsley and similar plants). 1 sp. 



Apium prostratum (The Prostrate Parsley). 



Leaves very variable, sessile or stalked, alternate, or radical and fascicled. 

 Flowers white, rays 3-12. Both islands: common. Fl. Nov. -March. 



Genus Ligusticum. 



Erect herbs, usually glabrous and aromatic. Leaves pinnate or decompound. 

 Umbels compound, rarely simple. Flowers white or red. Carpels with 3-5 

 winged ridges. Oil-tubes often obscure. (Name from Liguria, the home of the 

 officinal species). All the New Zealand species are endemic. 17 sp. 



Ligusticum latifolium (The Broad-leaved Ligusticum). 



A robust plant, 3 ft. -5 ft. in height. Stem 3 in. -4 in. thick at the base, 

 radical leaves 1 ft. -2 ft. long, coriaceous, 2-pinnate. Bracts large. Umbels 

 2 in. -3 in. across ; crowded. Flowers reddish. Fruit & in. long. Carpels with 5 

 primary ridges, rarely 4 or 3. Auckland and Campbell Isles. Fl. Dec. -Jan. A 

 magnificent species. 



