258 UMBELLIFER^E. Conium. 



fruit two lines long and broad, with narrow commissure and no calyx-teeth, the ribs 

 filiform : seed involute, enclosing a central cavity. — Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 343. 

 About San Francisco and Bolinas Bay, Kellogg, Bolander. 



6. CONIUM, Linn. Poison Hemlock. 



Calyx-teeth obsolete. Fruit broadly ovate, laterally compressed, the carpels with 



5 prominent obtuse equal ribs ; oil-tubes none. Seed terete, with a deep narrow 



groove on the inner face. Carpophore 2-parted. — Tall smooth biennials ; leaves 



large, decompound ; involucres and involucels small, 3 - 5-bracted ; flower's white. 



A genus of only 2 or 3 species, natives of the Old World, with virulently poisonous but valu- 

 able medicinal properties. 



1. C. maculatum, Linn. Stem 2 to 5 feet high, from a white fusiform root, 

 branching, often spotted with purple : leaves bright green, the segments half an 

 inch long, pinnatifid, with acute lobes: umbels 12-20-rayed, the rays 1 to 1J 

 inches long : petals obtuse or with a very short inflexed point : fruit 1|- lines long, 

 shorter than the pedicels. 



Sparingly introduced in waste places in the neighborhood of the older towns. The bruised 

 leaves exhale a sickly disagreeable odor. The extract of the plant has powerful narcotic and 

 alterative properties, and is a valuable remedial agent in the hands of competent physicians. The 

 root ignorantly eaten by children and others has not rarely proved fatal in its effects. 



7. APIUM, Linn. Celery. 



Calyx-teeth obsolete. Stylopodium depressed. Fruit broadly ovate, laterally 

 compressed, the carpels nearly straight, somewhat ribbed obtusely ; oil-tubes solitary 

 in the intervals. Seed nearly terete, not channelled nor concave on the face. Carpo- 

 phore entire. — Smooth-; leaves decompound ; umbels terminal, often nearly sessile 

 opposite the leaves ; flowers white ; involucre and involucels small or none. 



Including about a dozen species, as limited by Bentham & Hooker, some widely distributed, but 

 half of them confined to the Southern United States east of the Eocky Mountains. The only 

 species found in California is a native of the coasts of Europe, widely naturalized, under cultiva- 

 tion much changed and improved, becoming the garden Celery. The cultivated Parsley is another 

 member of the genus {A. Pctrosrtimim). 



1. A. graveolens, Linn. Biennial, with a fibrous root, erect, branching and 

 rather leafy, a foot or two high : leaves pinnate with 1 or 2 pairs of broadly cuneate- 

 obovate or rhomboidal leaflets,' 3 -5-lobed and sparingly toothed, an inch or two 

 long, the upper ternate with nearly entire oblanceolate leaflets : umbels sessile or 

 very shortly pedunculate, naked ; rays 6 to 12 or fewer, slender, an inch long or 

 less : fruit two thirds of a line long. 



Pare in California, but has been collected in salt marshes from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and 

 also at Port Tejon. 



8. APIASTR.UM, Nutt. 



Calyx-teeth obsolete. Petals ovate, concave, obtuse. Stylopodium depressed ; 

 styles short. Fruit cordate in outline, laterally compressed with a narrow commis- 

 sure ; carpels incurved when mature, with 5 often obscure rugulose ribs ; oil-tubes 

 broad and solitary in the intervals, and a narrow one under each rib. Seed con- 

 cave and somewhat incurved longitudinally. Carpophore 2-parted, rigid. — A 

 smooth slender branching Californian annual ; leaves dissected, with linear seg- 

 ments ; umbels sessile, naked, few-rayed, in the forks or opposite to the leaves ; 

 flowers small, white. 



