LXVII. UMBELLIFERjE. 



283 



desolations of autumn and winter, this alone puts forth its yellow blossoms. 

 The small branches were formerly used for " divining rods," to indicate the 

 presence of the precious metals and of deep springs of water, and there are even 

 at this day, persons who deem a denial of these virtues to the witch hazel, an 

 oifence little short of heresy. 



ORDER LXVII. UMBELLIFEKJE. UMBELLIFERS. 



Lvs. usually divided, simple or compound, with sheathing petioles. 

 Fts. arranged in umbels, mostly whits, often yellow, pink, blue, 

 Cal. adhering to the ovary, entire or 5-toothed. 



, 

 or greenish. 



Cor. Petals 5, usually inflected at the point, imbricate in aestivation. 



Sta. 5, alternate with the petals and inserted with them upon the disk. 



Ova. inferior, 2-celled, surmounted by the fleshy disk which bears the stamens and petals. 



Sty. 2, distinct, or united at their thickened bases. Stig. simple. 



Fr. dry, consisting of 2 coherent carpels, separating from each other by their faces (commissure) into two 



halves (merocarps). 

 Carpophore, the slender, simple, or forked axis by which the carpels are borne, cohering to it by the 



faces of the commissure. 

 Ribs. A definite number of ridges traversing the carpels, the larger ones (primary) alternating with the 



smaller (secondary). 

 Vittcc. Little linear receptacles of colored volatile oil, imbedded in the substance of the pericarp, just 



beneath the intervals of the ribs and the commissure. 



Genera 267, species 1500. This is a vast and well defined natural order, native of damp places, way- 

 sides, groves, &c., in the cool parts of the world. Very few are found in tropical countries except upon 

 the mountains. 



Properties aromatic, stimulant and carminative, depending upon a volatile oil residing in the vittaB of 

 the fruit, in the roots, <fec. The herbage is frequently pervaded by an acrid, narcotic principle, rendering 

 it very poisonous. Of this nature is the Conium maculatum (hemlock), Cicuta virosa, jEthusa Cynapium 

 (fools parsley) , besides many others which have, at least, a suspicious character. But the fruit is never 

 poisonous, and is usually stimulant and aromatic, as caraway, anise, dill, coriander, &c. Even the roots 

 and herbage of other species are wholesome and nutritive, as the carrot, parsnep, sweet cisely, celery 

 arid Archangelica. The gum-resin, assafoztida, exudes from incisions in the Ferula of Persia; the gwtn 

 galbanum is the product of Galbanum omcinale, an Indian species. 



The genera of the Umbelliferse are numerous, and not easily distinguished. The characters by which 

 De Candolle has more successfully than any other author divided this order into tribes and genera, are 

 chiefly founded upon the number and development of the ribs, the presence or absence of the vitta, and 

 the form of the albumen, particularly at the commissure. These parts, therefore, minute as they are, will 

 require the special attention of the student. 



10 



T IG .- 4 |-.~ 1 - zi ?j a aurea, with its compound, naked umbel, &c. 2. A flower enlarged 3 The fruit 

 with its filiform ribs and two persistent styles. 4. Cross.section, showing the two caroels'with the vitto 

 and flat commissure. 5. Umbel of Osmorhiza longistylis in fruit. 6. A flower enlarged 7 The fruit 

 with the merocarps separating from the base and supported by the bifid carpophore. 8 'Surmit of the 

 fruit of O. brevurtyha. 9. Fruit of Conium maculatum, with the undulate-crenulate ribs 10. Cross sec- 

 tion, showing the grooved commissure and involute albumen, n. Radiant flower of Coriandrum 

 12. Vertical section of the globose fruit, showing the minute embryo. 



