SIUM. 



wliich the plant in fome degree creeps along the muddy 

 bottoms of pools and ditches, St:>n erefl, angular, hollow, 

 leafy, fmooth, fcarcely branched. Leaves alternate, of about 

 three pair of oblong, feflile, fmooth leaflets, befides a ter- 

 minal, ftalked, rather longer one ; all acute, neatly ferrated, 

 varying in breadth ; thofe under water are liable to be finely 

 llivided. Umbels large, flattiftl, white, ereft, folitary, ter- 

 minal and lateral. Involucral leaves widely fpreading, lan- 

 'olate, white-edged, fometimes lobed, often ferrated. Calyx 

 r five fmall teeth. Petals fometimes (lightly unequal in 

 iize, as is nearly univerfal in this tribe. The whole herb is 

 acrid, and the roots efpecially are reckoned poifonous. This 

 (pecies dees not appear to be a native of Greece, nor to 

 have been known to Diofcorides. 



2- 5. angujlifalium. Narrow-leaved Water-parfnep. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1672. Willd. n. 3. Fl. Brit. n. 2. Engl. Bot. 

 t. 139. Prodr. Fl. Grxc. n. 674, Jacq. Auftr. t. 67. 

 (S. nodiflorum ; Fl. Dan. t. 247. S. ereftura ; Hudf. 

 ed. I. 103. S, minus; Rivin. Pentap. Irr. t. 79. S. majus 

 angullifolium ; Ger. Em. 256.) — Leaves pinnate; leaflets 

 irregularly lobed and ferrated. Umbels ifalked, oppofite 

 to the leaves. Stem eredl. — Native of rivulets and ditches 

 in Germany, England, France, and the fouth of Europe. 

 JDr. Sibthorp found it in Greece ; and it is more common 

 with ws than the precednig, flowering about July or Auguit. 

 I^iie perennial root creeps to a conliderable extent. The 

 b is of a fmaller more delicate habit than the lad, and 

 known by the more unequal incifions of its leaves, at lead 

 the upper ones. The leaflets of the radical foliage are fome- 

 what heart-fhaped, their edges regularly ferrated, and the 

 lower pair diltant from the next. Umbels folitary, each on 

 a lateral llalk, (horter than the oppofite leaf. Leaves of 

 the general involucrum drooping, often cut or pinnatitid, 

 often entire. Calyx of five hardly vifible teeth. 



4. S. nodiflorum. Procumbent Water-parfnep. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 361. Willd. n. 4. Fl. Brit. n. 3. Engl. Bot. t. 639. 

 Prodr. Fl. Grxc. n. 675. Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 182. (S. 

 aquaticum repens et procumbens, ad alas floridum ; Morif. 

 feft. 9. t. 5. f. 3.) — Leaves pinnate ; leaflets ovate, equally 

 ferrated. Umbels feflile, oppofite to the leaves. Stem 

 procumbent. —Frequent in ditches and rivulets, throughout 

 Europe, from Sweden to Greece, flowering in funimer. 

 Dr. Sibthorp obferving tliis fpecics abundantly in all the 

 water6 of the lall-mentioned country, concludes it, with 

 great probability, to be the real cr.rr/ of Diolcorides, as an- 

 fwerin^ well to his delcription, and being called vr^ocriXitov, 

 or water-parfley, by the modern Greeks. The root is pe- 

 rennial and creepmg. Stems procumbent or floating, 

 branched, bearing a nearly feffile greenirti-white umbel, op- 

 pofite to each leaf. The leaflets are fomewha. heart-fhaped 

 at tile bale, acute, neatly and equally ferrated, from five to 

 nine in eadi leaf; the terminal one occafumaliy confluent 

 with the next. General involucrum of one leaf, and often 

 wanting ; partial of feveral ovate one". Calyx fcarcely per- 

 ceptible. The qualities of this fpecie.^ are probably milder 

 than the two for.T.er, infomuch that three large ipoonfuls, 

 mixed with milk, have been given twice a day, to cure cu- 

 taneous diforders ; and this anfwers to the account given by 

 Diofcorides, better than any thing we know of the relt of 

 the genus. 



5. S. repens. Creeping Water-parfnep. Linn. Suppl. 

 181. Willd. n. 5. Fl.'Brit. n. 4. Engl. Bot. t. 1431. 

 Jacq. Auttr. t. 260. — Leaves pinnate ; leaflets roumlifh, 

 with deep tooth-like fegments. Umbels Italked, oppolite 

 to the leaves. Stem creeping. — Native of moid palturcs, 

 and watery turfy boj^s, in Bohemis, AuUria, Scotland, and 

 England, flowering from June to Augull. This is a much 



I 



fmaller plant than the lall, growing on wet ground, but not 

 floating in water. TlKjlems are quite proltrate, throwing 

 out many radicles. Leaflets fewer, with broad notches, not 

 fine ferratures. Umbels more ftalked, and whiter. General 

 involucrum, as well as the partial, of feveral ribbed leaves. 

 Calyx obfolete. 



6. S. Si/arum. Skirret. Linn. Sp. PI. 361. Willd. 

 n. 6. Ait. n. 5. (Sifarum ; Ger. Em. 1026. Sifer 

 primum ; Matth. Valgr. v. i. 402. Sju sjin, vulgo Nisji, 

 &c. ; Kiempf. Am. Exot. 818. t. 819. See Dryandr. 

 in Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 2. 228.) — Lower leaves pinnate; 

 upper ternate ; all fharply ferrated. Umbels terminal. — 

 Native of China. Cultivated, time out of mind, in Europe, 

 for the fake of its perennial, flefiiy, oblong, efculent roots, 

 formerly reputed to poflefs an exciting quality. This 

 notion perhaps originated with the Chinefe ; and that 

 knavilh nation feems, as Mr. Dryander firft remarked, to 

 have impofed upon the Japanefe with thefe roots, for the 

 true Ginfeng of Tartary, or Panax quinquefolia of Linnaeus, 

 which latter feems to be 5. Ninfi of Thunberg. One may 

 be as efficacious as the other, nor would a praAitioner, of 

 any defcription, now perhaps confide in either. The herb 

 of the Skirret is twelve or eighteen inches high, ereft, 

 branched, leafy. Lower leaves of five or feven leaflets ; 

 upper of three ; all copioufly, neatly, and fliarply ferrated ; 

 the lowcrmolt ferratures often much the largelt, or deepeft, 

 and fomewhat fpreading . Umbels at the tops of the 

 branches, white, rather fmall, with few or no leaves in the 

 general involucrum, but feveral linear or fetaceous ones in 

 the partial. — Sium Niiifl, Linn. Sp. PI. 361, having been 

 entirely adopted from Kxmpfer's figure of the prefent, 

 that fpecies falls to the ground ; nor is it entitled to rank 

 even as a variety, though marked as fuch by Willdenow. 



7. S. rigidius. Virginian Water-parfnep. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 362. Willd. n. 7. Ait. n. 6. Purlh n. i. (Oenanthc 

 maxima virginiana, pxonix focmins foliis ; Morif. feft. 9. 

 t. 7. f. I.) — Leaves pinnate; leaflets lanceolate, very 

 nearly entire. — " In wet meadows, from Pennfylvania to 

 Virginia, flowering in July and Auguft. Flotuers fmall. 

 This and the following, S. lineare, are confidered as very 

 poilonou-: plants, clpecially to horned cattle, and every 

 tarmer who knows their bad qualities is biifily employed 

 to dellroy them." Purjli. "YXm roots, and general habit, of 

 this ipecies bear confidcrable refemblance to the lafl ; but 

 the leaflets are more numerous, narrower, tapering at each 

 end, and either quite entire, or with two or three broad 

 notches only, here and there, in the lower leaves. The 

 umbels are thrice the fize of 5. Sifarum, but, like them, are 

 accompanied by only a (light general involucrum, nor are 

 the partial ones much more confidcrable. 



8. S. lineare. Linear Water-parfnep. Michaux Borcal- 

 Amer. v. 1. 167. Purlh n. 2. (S. luave ; Walter 

 Carol. 115.) — " Leaves pinnate, leaflets elongated, linear, 

 or (lightly lanceolate, rather diltantly ferrated. General 

 involucrum of few leaves ; partial o( many linear ones. 

 Umbel with fliort rays." — In wet meadows, and by the 

 fides of ditches, from Canada to Pennfylvania, flowering in 

 July ; perennial. Purjh. 



9. S. longifulium. Long-leaved Water-parfnep. Pur(h 

 n. 3. — " Leaves pinnate ; leaflets of the lower ones very 

 long, linear, falcate, Iparingly toothed. Stem (lightly 

 leafy ; naked above. Umbels ulually in pairs, with fcarcely 

 any involucrum." — In the ditches and b(>.;s of New Jerfcy, 

 flowering in Augull. — Very (lender, perennial. PurJh. 



10. S. japnnicum. Japaneie Water-parfnep. Tliuiib. 

 Jap. 1 18. Willd. n. 8. — Leaves pinnate; leaflets of the 

 lower outs oblong or ovate, varioully cut ; of the upper 



lanceolate. 



