222 AEALiACE^. [Hedera. 



oles hollow, terele, flattish and slightly grooved above, of the radical and lower stem- 

 leaves mostly very long, of the upper gradually shorter, all clasping by their broad 

 but not inflated ribbed bases, which are membrammsly edged and bordered with 

 close woolly hairs, or lanuginose. Umbels small, from about 1 to 2 inches in dia- 

 meter, solitary, terminal and lateral or opposite to the leaves, on slender, straight, 

 spreading, glabrous peduncles, sometimes sessile or nearly so, few- (from about 3- 

 to 6- or 7-) rayed, the rays about as long as or longer than the peduncle, rather 

 unequal, filiform, glabrous ; umhellels widely remote, quite simple, 3 — 6 rayed, the 

 rays (pedicels) scarcely exceeding the ripe fruit in length. General involucral 

 bracts mostly wanting or of a single leaf, partial ones about as many as the pedi- 

 cels, unequal, lanceolate or ovate, fringed, with long slender points. Flowers all 

 perfect, very small and inconspicuous. Petals extremely minute, equal, widely 

 spreading, while or sometimes pinkish ? obcordate, with an inflexed simple point. 

 Stamens shorter than the petals, spreading ; anthers greenish, finally brownish or 

 reddish. Styles nearly obsolete ; stylopodts broad, depressed. Ovaria setoso- 

 hispid. Syndicarps small, about \\ line in length, including the beak, dull 

 brown or blackish, ovoido-conical ; hemicarps " semiovoid,'' their inner face con- 

 tracted, with a deep furrow down the centre, rounded at the back, which is covered 

 in no regidar order with grayish bristles curved upwards, having simple toothed 

 tips ; tapering into the paler, smooth, furrowed and angular beak (persistent sty- 

 lopode), which is about \ the length of the entire fruit, and crowned with the 

 remains of the style. 



The whole herb has a pungent, aromatic and sweetish smell, like Parsley or 

 Chervil, and might perhaps, if cultivated, supply the place of both, were not its 

 duration too brief to be available beyond the earlier months of summer. 



Order XXXVI. AEALIACE^, Juss. 



" Calyx-tule adnate in whole or in part with the ovary, entire 

 or cleft. Petals 4 — 10, rarely cohering, or none ; aestivation val- 

 vular. Stamens equal in number to the petals or twice as many, 

 from the margin of an epigynous disk. Ovary 2- or more celled : 

 ovules solitary, pendulous. Styles as many as cells. Stigmas 

 simple. Fruit fleshy or dry, of several 1-seeded cells. Seed with a 

 fleshy albumen, and a minute embryo. — Trees, shrubs, or herbs ; 

 nearly allied to Umbelliferse." — Br. Fl. 



I. Hedera, * Linn. Ivy. 



" Calyx of 5 teeth. Petals 5, distinct, broadest at the base. 

 Stamens 5 — 10. Style simple, or 5 — more or less combined. 

 Berry with 3 — 10 seeds, crowned by the calyx." — Br. Fl. 



The umbellate inflorescence, which in the preceding natural order is often glo- 

 bular as in our Ivy ; the fleshy depressed disk (stylopodium) on the germen ; the 

 insertion of the stamens ; the short conical style, cleft in some species of Hedera ; 

 the almost imperceptible stigma ; pinnate calyx and resinous aroma ; are points 

 betraying a closer affinity in this genus to the order just mentioned, than is 

 evinced by most others of its own, of which it was made the type by Linnaeus. 

 Sir James Smith, I know not why, considers the berry of Hedera as one-celled ; 

 to me it appears as truly plurilocular as in any genus whatever, discovering on a 



* Derivation doubtful ; it has been thought from hedra, a cord in Celtic, which 

 the twisted and clasping stems of our Ivy much resemble. 



