Pastinaca. UMBELLIFER^. 279 



Root biennial, fleshy. Stem 3-6 feet high, smooth, strongly sulcate. Leaves somewhat 

 shming ; the segments sessile, 3-8 pairs. Umbels large and flat. Fruit about one-third 

 of an mch long, broadly oval, the border a little thickened : ribs very slender and slightly 

 prominent. 



Fields and waste grounds ; very common. July - October. Introduced, and now com- 

 pletely naturalized in many places. In the wild state, the root is hard and unfit for food. 



16. HERACLEUM. Linn. ; Endl. gen. AAll. cow parsnep. 



[ Named after Hercules, who is said to Iiave brought this plant into use.] 



Calyx-teeth distinct, or sometimes obsolete. Petals obcordate, with an inflexed point ; in the 

 exterior flowers often radiate, and apparently 2-cleft. Fruit much compressed on the back, 

 with a broad flat margin : ribs slender ; 3 of them dorsal and equidistant ; the 2 lateral 

 ones remote, and contiguous to the dilated margin. Vitts mostly clavate, shorter than the 

 fruit ; one in each interval, and usually 2 in the commissure. Seed flat.— Stout herbaceous 

 plants, with pinnately or ternately divided or lobed leaves : petiole large and sheathing. 

 Umbels with numerous rays. Involucre caducous, mostly few-leaved. Involucels many- 

 leaved. 



1. Heracleum la.\atum, Michx. American Coio Parsnep. 



Stem sulcate, pubescent ; leaves ternately divided, woolly-pubescent underneath ; the 

 segments petiolulate, roundish-cordate, somewhat palmately lobed ; fruit oval or obovate — 

 Michx. Jl.l.p. 166 ; Pursh, Jl. 1. p. 181 ; Bigel. ft. Bost p. 1 10 ; Torr. ft. 1. p. 313 • 

 DC.prodr. A. p. 192 ; Hook. ft. Bor..A?n. 1. p. 270 ; Beck, bat. p. 149 ; Darlm<rt fl Cast 

 p. 196; Torr. 4- Gr. ft. N. Am. 1. p. 632. 



Stem 4-8 feet high, and 1 - 2 inches in diameter at the base. Leaves with 3 primary 

 divisions, each on a footstalk 2-6 inches in length ; the divisions 3 - 5.1obed and inciscly 

 serrate, often 6-8 inches in diameter : common petiole much inflated and membranaceous. 

 Umbels very large, spreading. Involucre of 6 - 10 oblong-lanceolate caducous leaflets. 

 Leaflets of the involucels tapering to a long point. Flowers white : petals of the exterior 

 ones appearing deeply and often very unequally 2-lobed, with a short inflexed point between 

 the lobes. Fruit nearly half an inch long, emarginate. Vittae clavate, extending about half 

 way down the carpels. 



Wet meadows and river banks. Fl. May - June. Fr. July - August. A strong-smelling 

 I)lant, called in some places Master-wort. The root is stimulant and carminative. See Wood 

 4" Bache's U. S. Disp. p. 86, 



