umbelliferjE. 115 



GENUS XIV— P IMPINELLA. Linn. 



Calyx-limb obsolete. Petals obovate or oval, notched, with an 

 inflexed lobe from tbe notcb. Cremocarp ovoid, laterally com- 

 pressed ; columella free, 2-cleft ; mericarps with 5 equal filiform 

 ridges, tbe lateral ones marginal ; interstices eacb with 2 to 4 vittas. 

 Involucre and involucels none. 



Herbs with pinnate radical leaves, with the leaflets serrate or 

 more or less deeply divided. Umbels terminal, regular, manv- 

 rayed. Flowers often polygamous, white, rarely pink or yellowish. 



It is conjectured that the origin of the name of this genus of plants is an 

 alteration from bipennula, bipinnate, in allusion to the form of the leaves. 



SPECIES I.-PIMPINELL A SAXIPRAGA. Linn. 



Plate DLXXXV. 



Beieh. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XXI. Tab. 18C9. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 777. 



Stem slender, round, striate. Radical leaves numerous, pin- 

 nate, with the pinnse oval or roundish, generally cut, sometimes 

 so deeply pinnatifid as to be almost bipinnate, sometimes merely 

 serrated ; stem-leaves few, with the petiole dilated, particularly in 

 tbe uppermost ones, their pinnae narrower than in the radical 

 leaves and pinnatifid. Cremocarp glabrous ; stylopods sub-globular ; 

 styles reflexed, about as long as the ovary when in flower and 

 about half as long as the full-grown fruit. 



In pastures and bushy places. Very common, and generally 

 distributed. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer 

 and Autumn. 



Pootstock slender, with brownish wrinkled rind towards the 

 apex, where there are a few fibrous remains of decayed leafstalks. 

 Stem erect, 9 inches to 3 feet high, corymbosely branched. Radical 

 leaves shortly stalked, with 4 to 8 pairs of sessile or sub-sessile 

 pinna?, varying much in their size and degree of division ; stem- 

 leaves few, with tbe leaflets always more slender and longer in pro- 

 portion than in the root-leaves, and deeply pinnatifid even when 

 the latter are merely toothed ; uppermost leaves reduced to dilated 

 sheaths, with the lamina represented by one or more linear lobes. 

 Umbels regular, flat-topped, rays f to*H inch long; umbellules 

 many-flowered, with the rays \ to | inch long. Involucre and 

 involucels absent, Plowers ^ inch across, white, slightlv radiant. 



