UMBELLIFEROUS PLAINTS. 151 



Shakspeare also calls the same flower, " Love in idleness?'' You 

 will find the blue violet ( Viola cceruUa) among the first flowers of 

 spring. Our meadows present a great variety of beautiful and fra 

 grant violets. 



The genus Capsicum aflTords the Cayenne pepper and the red pep- 

 per of our gardens. The pericarps, when ripe, are of a bright red ; 

 the seeds, which are attached to a central column, are heating and 

 stimulating. A draught of hot cider and molasses, with a pod or 

 two of red pepper steeped in it, was long held in high repute, in New 

 F.ngland, as a remedy for colds. The green peppers are used for 

 pickles. We might enumerate many other interesting plants which 

 belong to this order, but our limits will not permit. The family of 

 the Convolvuli., or the morning-glory tribe, and of the CaprifolicB^ or 

 bush-honeysuckle tribe, are composed ofgenera oipentandrous plants. 



LECTURE XXVI. 



CLASS PENTANDRiA — Continued, 



Order Digynia. 



In this order of the fifth class, is the family Oentiance, which af- 

 fords some delicate flowers, as well as medicinal articles. The 

 fringed gentian is a beautiful plant with a blue flower. This genus 

 sometimes presents an irregularity in the number of stamens. In 

 the natural family, called Atriplices, from the genus Atriplex, (sea- 

 orache,) is the pig-weed, Chenopodium ; this plant, notwithstanding 

 its humble appearance, is dignified with a high-sounding name. It 

 is grouped by natural characters with the beet and dock, flowers 

 which are destitute of beauty. According to the late arrangement 

 of natural orders by De Candolle and Lindley, we find the order 

 ChenopodicB, in which is the pig- weed, water-hemp, and several other 

 plants, placed by Jussieu in his order Atriplices. 



Umbelliferous Plants. 



We meet, in this order of the class Pentandria, with a family of plants 

 closely allied by natural characters ; these are called umhelliferous 

 fromtheLatin umbella, anumbrella, on account of the mannerin which 

 the peduncles grow out from the main stem.* Among the plants of 

 this family, which are used for food, are the carrot, parsnip, celery, 

 and parsley ; the aromatics are dill, fennel, caraway, coriander, and 

 sweet cicely. Poison hemlock, {Conium,) water parsnip, (Sizim,) 

 water cow-bane, are arnong the poisonous plants of this tribe. The 

 water cow-bane (Cicuta virosa) grows in ponds and marshes. Cows 

 are often killed in the spring by eating it, but as the summer ad- 

 vances, the smell becomes stronger, and they carefully avoid it. 

 Linnaeus relates, that in a tour made into Lapland, for scientific pur- 

 poses, he was told of a disease among the cattle of Torneo, which 

 killed a great many in the spring, when they first began to feed in 

 pastures. The inhabitants were unable to account for this circum- 

 stance ; but the Swedish botanist examining the pastures, discover- 

 ed a marsh where the Cicuta virosa grew in abundance ; he ac- 



* See Plate ii. Fig, 3, for a plant of this family. 



Capsicum— Gentianae— Family Atriplices— Chenopodiae— What is the origin of the 

 word umbdliferous'?— What are some of the plants of this family 7— What is said of 

 the water cow-bane? 



