FOOLS PARSLEY 455 



8. Water Dropwort {Oenanthe crocata L.). — A tall perennial 

 resembling celery and sometimes mistaken for it with fatal 

 results. It grows in situations similar to those suited to wild 

 celery, namely, near rivers and ditches. The flowers are pale 

 yellow, and the juice squeezed from the plant is yellow, and 

 stains the skin. 



9. Fool's Parsley {Aethusa Cynapium L.). — A common annual 

 weed of cultivated ground, both gardens and fields. Its stem is 

 slightly furrowed and generally about a foot high. The leaves 

 are bipinnate, smooth and shining, of dark green colour, and 

 when bruised have a strong stinking odour. The flowers are 

 white, and the small umbels have involucels of three or four long, 

 narrow, slender bracteoles which point outwards. By the smell 

 and the conspicuous bracteoles the plant is readily distinguished 

 from others of similar general appearance. It has occasionally 

 been mistaken for parsley with bad effect, but rarely, if ever, led 

 to fatal results. 



Ex. 237. — The student should examine the roots, stems, leaves, inflor- 

 escences, and fruits of as many common wild umbellifers as possible. He 

 should also become especially acquainted with the botanical characters of 

 the poisonous species just mentioned. 



