208 UMBELLiFER.E. [CEncmthe. 



though still very strongly and acutely angulalosulcate and striate, at least in the 

 lower part, terete and purplish at the very hottom, completely filled with pitb to 

 about as high up as the second or third node, from whence it becomes fistulose, 

 and higher still tubular.* Leaves scarcely differing from those exhibited in some 

 ■varieties of CE. pimpinelloides. Umbels with much longer primary rays than in 

 CE. pimpinelloides, hence broader and flatter; sometimes the rays are so long as 

 to separate the umhellets very widely asunder : these last are similar to those of 

 CE. pimpinelloides, but the flowers are whiter,t the petals a little tinged with 

 pink, and the anthers purplish, as are the entire umhellets themselves not nnfre- 

 quenlly; the length of the primary rays vary extremely, from about 1 to 2 inches 

 or even more, sometimes rendering the umhellets approximate, but I have not yet 

 seen them so close as to present the compact tufted umbel of the other species ; 

 they are also, I think, in general less numerous than in that ; the outermost or 

 radiant flowers are upon longer stalks than in the other, and are mostly if not 

 always destitute of stamens, and do not perfect fruit ; their petals are, as remarked 

 by Babinglon, roundish obcordate, with a very short narrow claw, and cleft for 

 about half their length from the top. Bracts of the general involucre similar to 

 and equally variable in size and number with the last, sometimes wanting altoge- 

 ther on individual umbels of the same plant, though numerous on the rest ; of the 

 partial or umbelle involucres always present and numerous. Fruit about the 

 size of the last, crowded in the umhellets into convex or subhemispherical heads 

 (not dense-topped as in (E. pimpinelloides), on short thick pedicels, the inner ses- 

 sile or very nearly so ; palish or bright red before maturity, when ripe brown as in 

 that. Syndicdrps subterete, oblong-obovoid or subturbinate, being rounded at 

 top, and from thence attenuated downwards to the base, which is not enlarged 

 and callous ; tipped with the styles, which are shorter than in CE. pimpinelloides, 

 and the small very erect eatyx-segments. 



CE. Lachenalii unites to the general structure and habit of CE. pimpinelloides 

 the fructification of CE. crocata, of which it presents, on a much reduced scale, 

 an almost exact counterpart. It is a later plant than either of these last, and 

 does not ripen seed until October and November. 



4. CE. crocata, L. Hemlock Water-dropwort. Vect. Belder- 

 root. " Leaves tri-quadri-pinnate, leaflets stalked cuneate-ovate 

 or roundish cut and serrated, those of the upper leaves narrower, 

 fruit cylindrical oblong without a callous base." — Br. Fl. p. 168. 

 E. B. t. 2313. 



In deep swampy or boggy woods and thickets, in low wet meadows, shallow 

 pools, and along ditches, drains and brooks ; almost everywhere. Fl. June, July. 

 Fr. August, September. 2(. 



A large rank-growing and very poisonous plant, often filling up entirely our 

 shallow streams and drains, and overshadowing with its dark lurid foliage the 

 dank rotten soil of our deep gloomy thickets. 



The geographical distribution of CE. crocata embraces the western parts of 



second or perhaps the third year, as many large plants do not exhibit these cla- 

 vate dilatations at all, and, it may be, never acquire them at any period of their 

 duration. 



* I suspect, as I shall have occasion to show in the case of the common Fen- 

 nel, that little or no dependence is to be placed on the solidity of the cellular tis- 

 sue or pith in the stems of Umbelliferae. I use the word fistulose to imply a cen- 

 tral perforation ; when the hollow occupies the entire interior of the stem I call it 

 hollow. 



f At least in these, my first-described specimens from Wootton river, and so 1 

 find them in the second station, near Yarmouth, where the plant agrees in every 

 particular with that at the former place. It is remarkable that Pollich, in the 

 description of his CE. peucedanifolia, uses the words " flores albissimi." 



