UMBELLIFER^. 



179 



species, have acrid diuretic roots, formerly employed as masticatories, 

 now nearly abandoned. The leaves were used to make detersive 

 cataplasms. They have also served as fodder, and the young shoots 

 are considered edible in Greece. 0. nigrum,^ alpinum,^ and dissectum' 

 have analogous properties. 0. Sisarum,* a species renowned in the 

 extreme East, formerly cultivated in our gardens for its edible root, 

 but now much more rare, is considered tonic,^ and is used for pre- 

 paring a digestive alcoholic liquor.* The fruit of 8ison Amofnum '' 

 (fig. 122), now almost abandoned, was esteemed diuretic, carminative, 

 stomachic. That of G. Falcaria,^ now unused, had the same reputa- 

 tion, nearly so in the East that of C. Ajowan,^ copticum,^' and some 

 others." G. Podagraria '^ derived its name from its, perhaps ima- 

 ginary, anti-gout properties. In the north of Europe it is mixed 

 with vegetables to flavour them. The Fennels (fig. 114) are of 

 various kinds, all endowed with analogous properties, and often 

 mistaken one for another ; but those employed in medicine and 

 domestic economy appear to be all forms or varieties of one and the 



' Pimpinella nigra W. Speo. 1471 (var. with 

 many authors, of C Saxifraga). 



2 Pimpinella alpina Host. Fl. Audi: i. 399. 



' Pimpinella disseota Retz. Obs. 3, t. 2. — Nees, 

 Off. Pfi. t. 19 (Tar. (?) of C. magnum). 



* Sium Sisarum L. Spec. 361. — DC. Prodr.iv. 

 124, n. 1. — ^EosENTH. op. eit. 534 {SMrrefj. 



^ Ancient physicians considered it a speciiio 

 for mercurial salivation, stomatitis, angina, 

 &c. 



" Many authors agree in considering as only 

 a form of this plant the Ninsin of China ajid 

 Japan {Sium Ninsi Bdkm. Ind. t. 29 ; — Thunb. 

 Fl. Jap. 118), an aromatic and tonic plant to 

 which are attributed all the properties of the 

 Chinese Ginseng, and distinguished from it only 

 by a " mass of tubercular roots, whence rise 

 several geniculate and ramose stems " (Gtjib. 

 op. eit. ui. 203). 



7 L. Spec. 562. — jAca. Sort. Vindoi. iii. t. 18. 

 — DC.iVodc. iv. 110. — CicutaAmomum Ckantz. 

 — Sium Amomum Eoth. — S. aromaticnm Lamk. 

 — Seseli Amomum Scop. {Rock Paisley). Its 

 fruit is often substituted for that of Ammi cop- 

 ticum, but is distinguished by the absence of 

 small tubercles on its surface. 



N 



* Sium Falcaria L. Spec, 362. — Jacq. Fl. 

 Austr. t. 257. — Bunium Falcaria 'Bvb.'b.— Seseli 

 Falcaria Ckantz. — Drepanophyllum agresie 

 HoFEM. — Crithamus agresHs Bess. Enum. Volh. 

 92. — Falcaria Bivini Host, Fl. Auatr. i. 381. — 

 DC. Prodr. iv. HO, n. 1.— Gken. et Godk. Fl. 

 de Fr. i. 733. 



9 Zigusticum Ajowan EoxB. Cat, Sort. Calc. 

 21. — L. Ajawain Sohtjlt. — Athamantha Jjowan 

 WalI/. — Ptychotis Ajowan DC. Mem. Soc. Gen. 

 iv. (ex Prodr. iv. 109, n. 6). — Eosenth. op. eit. 

 530. — Fluck. et Uane. Pharmacogr. 269 

 {Bishop's weed). 



'" Ammi eopticum L. Mant. 56. — Bunium cop- 

 ticum Sprbng. — Trachyspermum eopticum Link. 

 — Ptychotis coplica DC. Prodr. iv. 108, n. 3. — 

 EOSENTH. op. eit. 530. 



" Particularly Ptychotis Roxburghiana DC. 

 sylvestris Eotl. and involucrata Eoyl. (Eo- 

 SENTH. loc. eit. 530). 



•^ JEgopodimn Podagraria L. Spec. 379. — DC. 

 Prodr. iv. 114. — Eosenth. op. eit. 531. — Poda- 

 graria JEgopodium Lamk. — Tragoselimmi Ange- 

 lica Lamk. — Pimpinella angeliccefolia Lamk. — 

 Zigusticum Podagraria Ckantz. — Seseli Mgopo- 

 dium Scop. 



2 



