APIACE.E. 323 



cent state the root is acrid, and is said to be poisonous. The stems are 

 candied as a sweetmeat in some parts of the country ; by cultivation, it is 

 probable that this plant would become fully equal to the garden kind. 



The root of the Angelica lucida is fully as aromatic as the above, and was 

 highly valued by the Southern Indians, both as a remedy and as a condiment, 

 and it deserves notice in a horticultural point of view, for if the accounts 

 given of it be true, it would be an acquisition to our culinary vegetables. 



Section 5. Peucedane^e. — Fruit with primary wings only. Margin of carpels dilated 

 into a single wing. 



Opoponax. — Koch. 



Margin of calyx obsolete. Petals roundish, entire, involute. Stylopodium broad, 

 thick. Styles very short. Fruit elliptical, compressed, with a dilated margin. Meri- 

 carps with three dorsal, thin, prominent ridges, and no distinct lateral ones. Vittae three 

 in each interval ; 6 — 10 to each commissure. 



This genus, which approaches very closely to Pastinaca, formerly was 

 included in it, but was separated by Koch (Umbell.), in consequence of the 

 differences presented by the seed. There is but a single species. 



O. chironum, Koch. — Leaves bipinnate ; leaflets unequal at base, scabrous on both 

 sides. 



Linn., (Pastinaca), Sp. PL 376; Woodville, i. Ill; Stephenson and 

 Churchill, ii. 98. 



Common Names. — Opoponax ; Rough parsnip. 



Foreign Names. — Panais opoponax, Ft. ; Herba costa, It. 



Description. — Root perennial, very large, fleshy, of a yellow colour, covered with a 

 cork-like bark. The stem is seven or eight feet in height, thick, round, striated, and 

 rough at base, with numerous angular, smooth, shining, hairy branches near the top. 

 The leaves are large, rough on both sides, more or less hairy, acutely serrated ; the cau- 

 line leaves are pinnate, composed of oblong, serrated leaflets, the terminal one cordate, 

 large ; the petioles are sheathing ; the radical leaves are simple, cordate, and crenated. 

 The involucres and involucels consist of four to six very small linear leaflets, but are 

 sometimes wanting. The flowers are small, numerous, of a greenish-yellow colour, in 

 terminal, flat umbels. They are all uniform, and generally fertile. The limb of the ca- 

 lyx is very small ; the petals are involute, entire, equal ; the stamens filiform, with 

 roundish anthers; the ovary is roundish, with short, erect styles. The fruit is elliptical, 

 roundish, compressed, striated, with three dorsal ribs, and two indistinct lateral ones, 

 forming a thin border. 



The Opoponax is a native of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, 

 but it is only in the warmer parts that it affords its peculiar product ; this is 

 a gum-resin, obtained by wounding the roots of the plant. At first it is in 

 the form of a milky juice, which gradually concretes into tears or masses, and 

 is known under the name of Opoponax. As found in commerce, it is in ir- 

 regular reddish-yellow lumps or tears, of an unpleasant smell, and acrid, 

 bitter taste. When rubbed with water, it forms an emulsion. It consists of 

 about forty per cent, of resin, and thirty per cent, of gum, and a small portion 

 of volatile oil, to which latter it owes its smell. 



Medical Properties. — It was known to Hippocrates, and four kinds of it 

 are described by Theophrastus, and three by Dioscorides. It was much es- 

 teemed by the ancients, and according to Celsus, was highly beneficial in dis- 

 eases of the spleen and scrofula. At a later period, it was considered useful 

 in paralysis, cerebral affections, &c, and on the continent of Europe, still 

 holds a rank as a discutient, carminative, and resolvent, but is seldom or 



