There is an old established stand of T. flavruni at Godmersham. 

 We regret that through a misunderstanding the Lesser Meadow Rue 

 Thalictrum minus was reported from Chartham in the 1954 Transactions. 



Arum maculatum is curiously named as most plants have unspotted 

 leaves and the inference is that formerly the proportion of spotted leaves 

 was much greater. It has been noticed that the spotted leaves are 

 considerably smaller than the unspotted which suggests that the spotting 

 is an abnormal condition. This was confirmed when specimens with 

 deeply indented spots were forwarded to Rothamsted. Mr. L. Balfour 

 Browne, the Department of Botany Mycologist, reported that the leaves 

 were infected with the fungus Ascochyta ari Died, which has elongated 

 spores. 



Several times last summer children have suflFered from a severe 

 skin rash after playing among the scrub on the chalk Downs near the 

 sea and their parents have asked at the Library to see the plant responsible. 

 The offender is the Wild Parsnip Pastinaca sativa one of two yellow 

 flowered Umbelliferae growing in chalk districts. 



The Wild Parsnip is abundant on chalk cliffs and waste land, 

 especially near the sea. It has stout rigid furrowed stems, the main 

 stem terminating in a large umbel of bright yellow flowers with several 

 short laterals beneath it. The leaves have rather coarsely cut leaflets 

 and are pale green but often the down that covers them is sufficiently 

 thick to give the plant a greyish appearance. The irritant hairs and 

 acrid juice of this plant cause a peeling and blistering of the skin accom- 

 panied by intense irritation. In severe cases the blisters break leaving 

 raw wounds which are slow to heal and may leave scars. A single stem 

 held in a bunch of flowers is sufficient to affect the palm of the hand. 

 Mr. John Sankey used to demonstrate to his students the blistering 

 properties of the plant by rubbing a leaf gently on his forearm ; he says 

 that he does so no longer since the last demonstration and that the 

 effects can be seen by studying a photo of what happened on that occasion. 



The other yellow Umbelliferae is the Fennel Foeniculum vulgare, 

 which is harmless, being used to flavour fish sauce. It is not uncommon 

 but rather local in its occurrence. It is taller than the Parsnip, growing 

 up to 6 ft. in height, and has smooth shiny dark green branching stems, 

 bearing many umbels of rather dark yellow flowers ; the finely cut 

 feathery leaves smell of aniseed. 



Like the Solanaceae, the family Umbelliferae provides some deadly 

 poisons, such as Hemlock Conium maculatum and Water Dropwort 

 Oenanthe as well as herbs for garnishing and flavouring, like Parsley 

 and Caraway, and some of our most useful food plants such as Carrots, 



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