CLASS V. ORDER n.] SMYRNIDM. 413 



GENUS LXXXV. SMYR'NIUM.— Linn. Alexanders. 



Gen. Char. Cabjx an obsolete niaigiu. Petals lanceolate or ellip- 

 tical, entire, with a long iuflexed point. Fruit laterally com- 

 pressed, double. Carpels roundish, reuiform, with three acute 

 prominent ridges at the back, the two lateral ones nearly obli- 

 terated. Channels with numerous vittie. Albumen with the 

 sides rolled inwards. Involucres various. — Named from ctjji.v^vx, 

 BIyrrh ; synonymous with f/.v^^x, from the seeds having a smell 

 resembling Myrrh. 

 1. S. Olusa'trum, Linn, (Fig. 473.) common Alexanders. Stem 

 furrowed; its leaves ternate, serrated, on footstalks. 



English Botany, t. 230. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 74. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 140. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 126. 



Root large, fleshy, branched. Stem stout, erect, about three feet 

 high, smooth, deeply furrowed, branched and leaiy, solid. Leaves 

 alternate, a bright yellowish green, the upper ones twice, the lower 

 mostly thvice ternate, on smooth slender striated footstalks, with large 

 much dilated pale membranous ribbed sheathing base fringed on the 

 margin, with soft white downiness, leaflets large, ovate, more or less 

 cut and serrated, paler beneath, and veiny, the terminal one wedge- 

 shaped, often three lobed. Umbels terminal and lateral, large, globose, 

 the general of numerous nearly equal angular rai/s, the partial of 

 numerous short ones. General and partial involucre wanting. Floxvers 

 yellowish green, much crowded, nearly equal. Calyx an obsolete 

 margin. Petals lanceolate, with a long point rolled iuwards, and from 

 one to three ribbed. Stamens with long slender filaments and ovate 

 yellow anthers. Styles very short, elongating after flowering, and 

 spreading. Stiyynas small, obtuse. Disk large, convex, fleshy. Fruit 

 black, the sides compressed. Carpels almost globular, hollowed out in 

 front, the back with three acute prominent ridges, the lateral ones much 

 smaller, almost obliterated. Channels with numerous slender vitta;. 

 Albumen rounded at the back, the sides rolled inwards. 



Habitat. — Waste ground, amongst ruins, and on rocks and cliff's, 

 especially near the sea ; not uncommon. 

 Biennial ; flowering in May and June. 



This plant, commonly known by the name of Alexanders, was much 

 cultivated by the ancients as a pot-herb, on account of its mild quali- 

 ties and pleasant aromatic flavour, which resides in the root as well 

 as all other parts of the plant. It is still much used on the Continent, 

 though in part, as it is almost entirely with us, superseded by Celery 

 as a vegetable. Its specific name of Olusatrum is from Olus, a pot- 

 kerb, in allusion to the use made of the plant; and atcr, atrum 

 black, in reference to the remarkable colour of the seed. 



