I 



184 



XXXVIII. UMBELLIFER.^. 



\_Physospermum. 



L -I ' "r "^' -i-^ci*c/co laige, inucil d 



when bruised extremely fetid, yielding a powerful medicine 



^ Root fusiform. Stem 2—4 feet high, hollow, striate and spottecl 

 with purple, much branched upwards. Leaves large, much divided 



^ . - - .. ^ powerful medicine. It \l 



best distinguished from its allies by its spotted stem, fetid smell and 

 by the unilateral partial involucres (which are ovate-lanceolate acum' 

 nate and shorter than the umbels), together with the waved' rido-Il 

 of the fruit. , ^^ 



31. Physospermum Cuss. Bladder-seed. (Tab. III. f. 31,) 



^ Fruit of 2 ovate-globose lobes or carpels^ eacli with 5 in- 

 distinct filiform ribs, and single vitt(B between tliem. 

 furrowed. CalMeeth evident. 



partial involucre of I 



) 



Albumen 

 Pet obcordate. (Involucre and 

 5 leaves,) — JSTamed from rbvo-a, ^bladder 

 and (TTTspfxa, a seed^ from the loose covering to the seed. 



1. P. Corniibiense Hook. (Co?viish B.). P. aquilegifolium 

 Koch. Ligusticum Cornubiense i.; E. B, t. 683. 



Bushy fields, about Bodmin, in Cornwall. Wood on the Devon- 

 shire side of the Tamar (now extinct). 1/. . 7, S. — Stem a foot and 

 a half to 2 feet high, erect, striate, glabrous, panicled above. Leaves 

 mostly radical, on long stalks, triternate; Zea/e^s wedge-shaped, cut 

 and laciniate or deeply tripartite, the segments acute, glabrous or 

 minutely downy on the veins and margins. Cauline leaves few, small, 

 Jess divided, the segments longer and slenderer. The coat of the 

 carpels is crustaceous and so loose that the seed is free within. 



r 



32. Smyrnium Linn. Alexanders. (Tab. III. f. 32.) 



■ 



Fruit of 2 nearly globose lobes or carpels, each with 3 dorsal 

 prominent sharp ribs, the two lateral ones obsolete ; interstices 

 in the several vitlce. Albumen involute. Pet. lanceolate or 

 elliptical, with an inflected point.— ISTamed from (jpLvpya, syn- 

 onyrnous with fxvppa, mtjrrh, from the scent of the juice of some 

 species. 



w 



1. S. Olusdtrum L. (common Alexande?^s) ; cauline leaves 

 ternate petiolate serrate. F. B. t. 230. 



Waste ground and among ruins, especially near the sea; not un- 

 frequent. ^ $. 4— 6. — Stem 3— 4 feet high, very stc^ut, furrowed. 

 Leaves bright yellow-green, twice (or the lower ones thrice) ternate, 

 with a very broad membranous base; leaflets very large, broadly 

 ovate, lobed and serrate. Flowers yellow-green, hi very dense, 

 numerous, rounded umbels. Lnvolucres none. Fruit almost black 

 when ripe. 



F. Fruit oblong, not prichhj, furrowed or involute at the suture, 



usually more or less beaked. (Gen. 33 36.) 



33. ScANDix Linn. Shepherd's Needle. (Tab. III. £ 33.) 

 Fruit laterally compressed, with a loner beak. Carpels with 

 5 obtuse ribs and no vittcB. Cal.-teeth obsolete. Pet. obovate. 



