THE CARROT FAMILY. 369 



SHORT=STYLED SNAKEROOT. 



Si I n icuh I Canadt n sis . 



Fl07vcrs heads : small; growing in irregular, few-rayc(! umbels, ;,.. ,.ciilc 

 flowers few and with short pedicels. Involucre : of small leaf-like bracts. Until- 

 lets : mingled with the flowers, also very small. Leai'es : those from the base 

 with very long, smooth petioles; those of the stcnj, short-petioled, or sessile; 

 paimately three to seven parted, the divisions serrate, or sharply cut and smooth. 

 Sle/fi : one to three feet high; simple; smooth. 



From Sanicula Marylandica, the coninioii black snakcroot. this present plant 

 of ours varies very httle in superficial characters, but the former is a perennial 

 species and the latter of biennial duration. There is also a character in the 

 lengths of the styles between the two, the common black snakeroot havinj^ 

 styles longer than the bristles of the fruit, a feature exactly reversed in the 

 short-styled snakeroot. 



For a long time the genus has been renov/ned for its powers of healing, 

 especially in the matter of snake bites. Fifteen species are recognised as 

 occurring in the United States. 



SnOOTHER SWEET CICELY. 



I Vashiiiglbiiia longislylis. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Carrot. Wliite. Roois^anise scented. Tennessee and A lahanta north- .May, June. 



ward to Canada. 



Flo'oers : vt\\x\w\.t\ growing in small umbels and subtended by an involucel of 

 few lanceolate bracts. Calyx: five toothed. Corolla: with five small petals. 

 Stamens : five, slightly protruding. Pistil: one; styles, two. Fruit : long, narrow, 

 bristly. Leaves : from the base and on the stem; twice or thrice compound with 

 ovate, toothed or deeply cleft leaflets; tb.in and slightly downy. Stems : stout; one 

 to three feet, smooth at maturity. Kootstoek: aromatic, sweet. 



As a virtuous member in a family of marked good and evil traits wc find 

 the smoother sweet cicely producing a rootstock of edible and tasteful quality, 

 which to those who rely for food on nature's wild garden is as friendly 

 as the parsnip, celery, parsley, carrots, caraway and other members, which 

 thrive in cultivated places. The whole plant emits, moreover, a delightful 

 fragrance as it spreads its fern-like, graceful spray of foliage through wooded 

 places and raises its very small umbels of bloom. More noticeable also is the 

 anise-like scent of its roots than that of its near relative. 



W, Clayloni, woolly sweet cicely, is in opposition to the preceding |>lant a 

 villous-pubescent species. It prefers to grow also in rich wooils but hardly 

 further southward than North Carolina. The genus has been dedicated to 

 George Washington. 



