U M B 



U M B 



tann'ica has not undertaken to reform this fubjeift, though he 

 has always objeAed to the principle on which it is founded. 

 Like other Linnasan botanifts, he adopts it, with many 

 thini^s befides, for prefent ufe. Gsrtner, as might be ex- 

 peAed, recurs to the feeds, but not with the happieft 

 fucccfs. 



Two ingenious writers have of late taken up this depart- 

 ment of botany afrefli, independent of each other ; profefTor 

 Hoffmann, late of Gottingen, now of Mofcow ; and pro- 

 fefTor Sprengel of Halle. The former founds his genera on 

 the feeds and petals ; the latter on the feeds alone, cai-rying 

 into execution the principles of the late M. Cuffon of Mont- 

 pellier, whofe premature death deprived the world of the 

 fruit of his laborious (Indies on this fubjeft. 



Mr. Sprengel's feftions ai-e as follows. I. Fruit com- 

 prefTed, flat. 2. Fruit rather folid, winged. 3. Fruit 

 bladdery. 4. Fruit coated. 5. Fruit armed. 6. Fruit 

 fohd, naked. This laft feftion is fubdivided into thofe 

 ■whofe fruit is linear-lanceolate, and thofe in which it is 

 obloncr-ovate, or quite ovate. Subordinate charafters are 

 afforded by the ribs of the feeds, and their interftices, 

 which, after Cuffon, are termed vaUccuU. Latufcula of 

 thefe authors are the flopirg lides of each feed, from the 

 back to the cotnmtffura, or feam, where the edges of the 

 two feeds meet. ProfeiTor Sprengel eftablifhes 63 genera, 

 and 371 fpeciss, in his Prodromus, publifhed at Halle in 



The Umbcllatx liitherto known are chiefly found in the 

 temperate clinriates of the northern hemifphere, as Mr. 

 Brown obferves ui his General Remarks on the Botany of 

 Terra Auilralis, fubjoined to captam Flinders's Vovage. 

 Very few occur within the tropics, but the eminent botanift 

 jull quoted informs his readers, that thofe of Terra Auf- 

 trahs, including a few Aral'ie, exceed fifty fpecies. Thefe 

 are moflly new. The fingular genus Ekiocalia, (fee that 

 article,) adopted in Sprengel's Prodr. 27, is one of them. 

 Mr. Brown fpeaks of another genus, by the name of Leu- 

 colena, " worthy of notice on account of the great apparent 

 differences of inflorefcence, exilling among its fpecies ;" 

 which, however, prove, by his luminous explanation, to be 

 only apparent. 



We think it hardly neceflary to mention the polygamous 

 charafter of the flowers in fome of this order, though that 

 charafter is made to enter into the Linnasan generic dif- 

 tinftions. The central flowers, or central partial umbels, 

 are mod inclined to be male, the furrounding ones female, 

 Or at leaft moil fertile. Tfie petals of the latter are alfo 

 moft radiant, or dilated outwards. 



Linnxus remarks, that the. principal qualities of thefe 

 plants refide in their roots, (often biennial,) and their feeds ; 

 the herbage, for the moft part, being inactive. They con- 

 tain an acrid aromatic, or cauflic principle. Such as grow 

 in dry places are mofl wholefome or fafe, as well as moft 

 agreeable in flavour ; thofe found in watery places are 

 among the moft virulent of all vegetable poifons ; witnefs 

 Cicula virofa and Oenanthe crocata. Cultivation, in a dry or 

 manured foil, renders fome aquatic umbsUatte fafe and whole- 

 fome, particularly the ylp'mm gravsclens of our ditches, 

 which becomes, under proper treatment, the garden Celery. 

 UMBELLIFERjF. See Umbellat.s. 

 UMBELLIFEROUS Plants, a name given to cer- 

 tain kinds, as all fuch as form and produce their flowers in 

 the manner of an umbel, and wliich are principally of the 

 herbaceous kinds, with fome few of the tree fort, having 

 the flowers in this mode either in the fimple or compound 

 form, nfing with ereft hollow italks in the firft defcription, 



and moftly branching in the alternate method, and either 

 fimple-fingered, "or winged. The chief forts in the garden 

 herb clafs are thofe of angelica, the different carrot kinds, 

 the parfnip, parfley, the various kinds of celery, common 

 fennel, dill, giant fennel, alexanders, coriander, carraway, 

 Macedonian parfley, famphire, eringo, &c. But befides 

 thefe ciculcnts for difl'erent culinary purpofcs, it belongs to 

 fome of the medicinal fort, and others which do not relate 

 to tlic butinefs of gardening. See KlTCHEN-Gar^/fn Plants, 

 and Medicinal Plants. 



UMBELLUS, in Qrn'ithohgy, a fpecies of 7i?//"ao / which 

 fee. 



UMBER, Ombros, or Umbros, in /Indent Geography, a 

 lake of Italy, in Umbria ; which, according to Scaliger, 

 is the fame witli the Vadimonis lacus of Livy. 



Umber, or Umbrc, in Natural H'ljlory, a foffile brown 

 or blackifh fubftance, ufed in painting, fo called from 

 Ombria, the ancient name of the duchy of Spoleto, in 

 Italy, whence it was firft obtained ; diluted witli water, it 

 ferves to make a dark-brown colour, ufaally called with us 

 an hair-colour. 



Dr. Hill and M. Da Cofta conuder it as an earth of the 

 ochre kind. It is found in Egypt, Italy, Spain, and Ger- 

 many ; in Cyprus alfo it is found in large quantities ; but 

 what we have brought into England is principally from 

 different parts of the Tnrkifli dominions. But it might 

 be found in confiderable plenty alfo in England and Ireland, 

 if properly looked after, feveral large mafTes of it having 

 been thrown up in digging on Mendip-hills, in Somerfet- 

 fliire, and in the county of Wexford, in Ireland : it is alio 

 fometimes found in the veins of lead-ore, both in Dcrby- 

 fhire and Flintfhire. 



Mineralogifts mention two kinds of umber ; the one 

 called " Cologne earth," which is a variety of peat or 

 earthy-brown coal. In the vicinity of Cologne they work 

 large beds of it, principally for fuel, and a confiderable 

 quantity is imported into Holland, where it is ufed for the 

 adulteration of fnuff, and a fmaller quantity is employed 

 by the paint-makers. Its colour is a fomewhat pinkifli- 

 brown, and it is ufeful to the painter in water-colours. 

 The fecond kind is known by the name of "Turkifh umber," 

 and appears to be a variety of the iron-ore, called brown 

 iron-ftone ochre. Klaproth analyfed a fpecimen from Cy- 

 prus, and found that it contained 



48 oxvd of iron. 



20 oxyd of mangan?fe. 



13 filex. 



5 alumine. 



14 water. 



Wallerius ranks the umber as a humus or m.oijid, appre» 

 bending, by its immediately flaming in the fire, and by the 

 fmell which it emits, that it owes its colour to an admixture 

 of bituminous parts. But M. le Baron de Hupfel (Berlin, 

 Mem. 1 771) has difcovered it to be a foffile wood, filled 

 with a bituminous juice. It is found in two different ftates, 

 firft, as retaining the form of wood, which it has preferved 

 by means of a bituminous matter that has prevented the 

 rotting of the wood ; and fccondly, as a powder, like that 

 into whicti the firft kind, that ftill retains the form of the 

 wood, eaiily crumbles. 



It is certain, however, fays Mr. Kirwan, that the name 

 bath been alfo given to a fort of brown ochre, which be- 

 comes 



