CLASS V. ORDER II.j ANTHRISCUS. 405 



sixteen. The fruit is very vemarkablc with its long rough edged beak, 

 with the spines pointed upwards, which seems to be a provision to 

 allow the seed to pass with ease only in one direction, for the spines 

 offer considerable resistance to its passing, but in a downward direc- 

 tion. This may be to secure the germination of the seed, for other- 

 wise the long beak would appear greatly to prevent its passage into 

 the soil. 



GENUS LXXXI. ANTHRISCUS.— Pers. Beaked Parsley. 



Gen. Char. Calyx an obsolete margin. Petals obcordate, with an 

 inflexed often very short point. Fruit contracted at the sides, 

 beaked. Carpels nearly round, without ridges, except five on the 

 beak. Albumen nearly round, deeply furrowed in front. General 

 involucre none, partial of numerous segments. — Name of doubtful 

 origin. 



* Carpels smooth. 

 \, A. sylves'tris, Hojfm. (Fig. 465.) Wild Beaked Parsley. Stem 

 hairy below, smooth above, slightly swollen below the joints ; fruit 

 oblong, smooth, slightly tuberculated; channels on the beak about 

 one-fifth the length of the fruit; involucre with numerous fringed 

 segments. 



Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 137. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 124. — 

 Cheer oplujUum sylvestris, Linn. — English Botany, t. 752. — English 

 Flora, vol. ii. p. 48. 



Root tapering. Stem from three to four feet high, angular and 

 furrowed, hairy and purplish in the lower part, green and smooth 

 above, somewhat swollen beneath itsjoint, branched and leafy. Leaves 

 large, with slender long striated hairy footstalks, the base dilated, long, 

 sheathing, striated, mostly clothed in short pubescence, the margins 

 thin and membranous, thrice pinnated, the leaflets ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, deeply cut and serrated, the upper ones nearly smooth, the 

 lower hairy, especially beneath and on the mid-ribs, and somewhat 

 paler. Umbels lateral and terminal, at first drooping, becoming erect 

 and spreading, the general of numerous slender rays, the partial of 

 short ones. General involucre none, partial of numerous lanceolate 

 ribbed membranous reflexed segments, with a fringed border of very 

 slender silky hairs. Floxvers numerous, white, the outer ones with 

 some of the petals larger than the others. Petals inversely heart- 

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

 with roundish anthers. Styles at first very short, becoming elongated. 

 Disk convex, spreading. Fniit oblong, smooth, with a beak about 



