242 HALF-HOUKS IN THE GREEN LANES. 



unpleasant, when freshly dug. The flower umbels are 

 small and thin, and the fine needle-shaped leaves are a 

 good guide to its identification. The Hemlock (Conium 

 maculatuiii) is a sign of the advancing summer. Its 

 soft, dark, elegantly-cut leaves (of which there is 

 an abundance) and spotted stem are good indices to 

 its identity. It grows in the hedges, often as close 

 to the hawthorn as it possibly can. The rather 

 fetid smell it gives out when bruised is also charac- 

 teristic of the plant, and another means of discover- 

 ing it. The plant is held to be poisonous, and 

 readers will remember the " hemlock juice " which 

 Socrates was forced to take to produce death. 

 The Fool's Parsley (JEihusa cynapium) is another 

 common wayside plant, whose flower-umbels are 

 recognised by the spurs which may be seen beneath. 

 It is a pretty plant, with leaves so delicately 

 and gracefully formed that ignorant persons often 

 take them, when the plant is young, for ferns. The 

 Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) is also distinguished by 

 its finely-cut leaves, but in this case the umbel of 

 flowers is large and round, and the blossoms so 

 thickly grouped that the surface is depressed in the 

 centre. The outer flowers are white, and the 

 central ones of a pinkish colour. It is an early 

 summer plant, and the above description, and the 

 peculiar carrot-like smell it gives out when the 

 leaves are bruised, readily lead to its identification. 

 The Kough Chervil (Choerophyllum temulum) id 

 another unibellifer common along our waysides. 



