394 lEUCEDANUM. l^LASS Y. ORDER 11. 



was esteemed for its supposed medical virtues. Tlie seeds are said to 

 possess diuretic properties, but it is not now used as a medicine. 



GENUS LXXV. PEUCE'DANUM.— Linn. Hogs Fennel 



Gen. Char. Calyx margin of five teetli, sometimes obsolete. Petals 



obovate, emarginate, or entire, with an inflexed point- Fruit 



flattened at the back with a broad thin margin. Carpels with five 



nearly equi-distant ridges, the three dorsal ones filiform, the 



lateral ones more obsolete, near to, or confounded with, the dilated 



margin. Channels with one to three vitta. Albumen flat in 



front. Pericarp double. General involucre various, partial of 



numerous segments. — Name from mv^n, a Pine tree ; and Javo? 



(hvarf; on account of the narrow leaves of some of the species 



resembling a Pine tree, or from some species giving a resinous 



extract. 



1. P. offi'cinale, Linn. (Fig. 454.) Hog^s Fennel, or Sea Sulphur 



Weed. Stem round, striated ; leaves five times tri-partite ; leaflets 



linear, flaccid, tapering at the extremities; involucre of few linear 



deciduous segments; pedicles two or three times longer than the fruit. 



English Botany, t. 1767. — EngHsh Flora, vol. ii. p. 99. — Hooker, 



British Flora, vol. i. p. 134. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 117. 



Root tapering, large, stout, fleshy, containing a resinous juice of a 

 sulphureous smell. Stem erect, round, smooth, numerously striated, 

 slender, smooth, branched and leafy. Leaves on round striated foot- 

 stalks, large, divided, five times tri-partite, leaflets simple, linear, flat, 

 about an inch and half long, tapering at each end, three ribbed, the 

 terminal leaflet of three segments. Umbels terminal and lateral, 

 large, of numerous long slender unequal striated rags, the partial of 

 numerous very slender nearly equal rays, both general and partial 

 involucre of numerous narrow linear segments, soon falling away, 

 sometimes one or two remaining. Floivers numerous, yellow. Calyx 

 of five small acute teeth. Petals inversely heart-shaped, nearly entire, 

 with a small inflexed point. Stamens on long slender filaments, with 

 small roundish anthers. Styles short, elongating, and reflexed, the 

 stigmas small, notched. Disk somewhat convex. Fruit ovate, 

 flattened at the back, with a narrow flat dilated margin. Carpels with 

 slender filiform nearly equal ridges, the two near the dilated margin 

 scarcely distinguished. Channels with from one to three vittce. Al- 

 bumen flat in front, convex at the back. 



Habitat. — ^di\i marshes and meadows ; very rare. In Kent, Sussex, 

 and Essex. 



Perennial; flowering from July to September. 



