UMBELLIFERAE 



PARSLEY FAMILY 



WILD CHERVIL 



Cliacrophyllum procumbens (L.) Crantz 



The Wild Chervil, which produces its small white flowers in 

 abundance from April to June, is common in rich woods and 

 often in open places on moist soil from New York to North 

 Carolina and west to Iowa and 

 Louisiana. It is a much branched 

 annual herb 6-2o inches high, 

 with slender, more or less hairy, 

 spreading stems. 



The flowers are produced in 

 small compound umbels, each 

 cluster consisting of 2-6 few- 

 flowered umbels on peduncles 

 which are in turn arranged as an 

 umbel. There is a cluster of small 

 bracts forming an involucre below 

 each little umbel but ordinarily 

 there is no involucre below the 

 compound umbel. 



The flower parts are attached 

 above the ovary as is true of all 

 members of the family. The calyx 

 tube is so short as to be almost 

 absent and there are no calyx 

 teeth. The 5 white petals have 

 the tips turned in and i is slightly 

 larger than the others. The 5 

 stamens alternate with the petals 

 and are attached with them to a 

 sort of disk that crowns the ovary 

 and surrounds the base of the 2 styles. The fruit when mature 

 is a nearly smooth, oblong, somewhat angled or ribbed akene. 

 There is i seed in each of the identical halves. 



The gladiolus and the fervent rose, 

 Which in their splendor move unshadowed, 

 Upon their vital stems expose 

 Their cups of gold and red. 

 H'ithln The Garden There is Healthfulness — Emile Verhaeren 



217 



