8 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



seeds, which our grandmothers used to take to church in order to 

 while away the long minutes of dreary sermons. 



The vegetables parsnip, carrot, celery, and parsley are useful 

 members of this family. Here, too, belong the anise and cumin, 

 though not the mint, whose tithing has stood for punctilious 

 observance of unimportant " matters of the law " ever since the 

 days of the Pharisees. 



Many of the roots and seeds of parsleys, when wild, are very 

 poisonous, and acquaintance with them is desirable for this if 

 for no other reason than that one may warn children and igno- 

 rant persons against them. None is poisonous to touch. 



The meadow parsnip is tall, with yellow umbels of flowers and 

 rather large seeds. Soft, fine hairs grow along the joints of the 

 stem and among the flowers. 2 to 4 feet high. 



10. Great Angelica 



Angelica atropurpurea. — Family, Parsley. Color, green- 

 ish white. Leaves, large, twice or thrice compound ; leaflets 

 very sharply serrate. Time, June, into July. 



The stem of this plant is stout and smooth, 4 to 6 feet tall, of 

 a deep purple color. Although coarse and large, it possesses a 

 certain virile attractiveness. 



II. Northern Bedstraw 



Galium boreule. — Family, Madder. Color, white. Leaves, 

 narrow, lance-shaped, in whorls of fours, three-nerved. Time, 



July. 



Corolla, 4-parted and wheel-shaped. 4 stamens. 2 styles, 

 and a twin, round, somewhat bristly or smoothish fruit. Flowers, 

 small, compact, panicled. .S/.fwzj-, square, smooth. 1 102 feethigh. 



All the galiums are weak-stemmed plants ; some rough ; other?, 

 like this, smooth. All have leaves in whorls and small flowers, 

 white or purplish, in cymes or cymose panicles. All have the 

 twin fruit, which separates, when ripe, into two one-seeded car- 

 pels. 



