UMBELLIFEUJE. 



179 



species, have acrid diuretic roots, formerly employed as masticatories, 

 now nearly abandoned. The leaves were used to make detersive 

 cataplasms. They have also served as fodder, and the young shoots 

 are considered edible in Greece. (7. nigmm,^ alpinum^'^ and dissectum^ 

 have analogous properties. G. Sisarum,^ a species renowned in the 

 extreme East, formerly cultivated in our gardens for its edible root, 

 but now much more rare, is considered tonic, ^ and is used for pre- 

 paring a digestive alcoholic liquor.^ The fruit of Sison Amomum "^ 

 (fig. 122), now almost abandoned, was esteemed diuretic, carminative, 

 stomachic. That of C. Falcaria,^ now unused, had the same reputa- 

 tion, nearly so in the East that of (7. Ajowan,^ copticum,^° and some 

 others.^^ G. Podagraria^^ derived its name from its, perhaps ima- 

 ginary, anti-gout properties. In the north of Europe it is mixed 

 with vegetables to flavour them. The Fennels (fig. 114) are of 

 various kinds, all endowed with analogous properties, and often 

 mistaken one for another ; but those employed in medicine and 

 domestic economy appear to be all forms or varieties of one and the 



1 Plmpinella nigra W. Spec. 1471 (var. with 

 many authors, of C. Saxifraga). 



2 Pimpinella alpina Host. Fl. Ausir. i. 399. 



3 Pimpinella dissecta Retz. Obs. 3, t. 2. — Nees, 

 Off. PJI. t. 19 (var. (?) of C. magnum). 



* Slum Sisarum L. Spec. 361. — DC. Prodr.iv. 

 124, n. 1. — RosEXTH. op. cit. 534 {Skirret). 



^ Ancient physicians considered it a specific 

 for mercurial salivation, stomatitis, angina, 

 &c. 



'^ Many authors agree in considering as only 

 a form of this plant the Ninsin of China and 

 Japan {Sium Ninsi Burm. Lid. t. 29 ; — Thunb. 

 PL Jap. 118), an aromatic and tonic plant to 

 which are attributed all the properties of the 

 Chinese Ginseng, and distinguished from it only 

 by a " mass of tubercular roots, whence rise 

 several geniculate and ramose stems " (Guib. 

 op. cit. iii. 203). 



7 L. Spec. 362. — Jacq. Sort. Vindoh. iii. t. 18. 

 — DC. Prodr. iv. 110. — Ci cut a Amomum Crantz. 

 — Sium Amommn Roth. — S. aromaticum Lamk. 

 — Seseli Amomum Scop. (Rock Parsley). Its 

 fruit is often substituted fbr that of Ammi cop- 

 ticum, but is distinguished by the absence of 

 small tubercles on its surface. 



8 Sium Palcaria L. Spec. 362. — Jacq. Fl. 

 Austr. t. 257. — Bunium Palcaria Bieb. — Seseli 

 Palcaria Crantz. — Prepajtophyllum agresie 

 HoFFM. — Crithamus agrestis Bess. Enum. Volh. 

 92. — Palcaria Eivini Host, PL Austr. i. 381. — 

 DC Prodr. iv. 110, n. 1.— Gren. et Godr. FL 

 de Fr. i. 733. 



9 Ligusticum Ajowan Roxb. Cat. Hort. Calc. 

 21. — L. Ajawain Schult. — Athamantha Ajoican 

 Walij. — Ptychotis Ajcwan DC. Mem. Soc. Gen. 

 iv. (ex Prodr. iv. 109, n. 5). — Rosenth. op. cit. 

 530. — Fluck. et Hanb. Pharmacogr. 269 

 {Bishop's weed). 



^^ Ammi copticum L. Mant. 56. — Bwiium cop- 

 ticum Sprexg. — Tr achy sper mum copticum Link. 

 — Ptychotis coptica DC. Prodr. iv. 108, n. 3. — 

 Rosenth. op. cit. 530. 



11 Particularly Ptychotis Poxburghiana DC. 

 sylvestris RoYL. and involucrata Ro\'L. (Ro- 

 senth. loc. cit. 530). 



12 ^gopodium Pudagraria L. Spec. 3?9. — DC. 

 Prodr. iv. 114. — Rosenth. op. cit. 531. — Poda- 

 graria JEgopodium Lamk. — Tragoselinum Ange- 

 lica Lamk. — Pimpinella angeliccefolia Lams. — 

 Ligusticum Podagraria Crantz. — Seseli Mgopo- 

 dium Scop. 



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