PKNTANDRIA DIGYXIA 1S5 



C. Umbeh perfectly compound. 



j* Fruit with primary ribs only* 



4. jUimi Tribb. Fruit laterally compressed ordidymous. Amminejs. DC 



138. CICUTA. /,. Mutt. Gen. 276. 

 A. Latin name for the hollow stem, or internodes, of plants; applied to this genus, j 



Calyx with 5 acuminate segments. Petal* roundish-obcordotc, acu- 

 minate, with the point indexed. Fruit roundish, compressed at the 

 sides. Carpels with 5 Qattish equal ribs, of which the lateral ones arc 

 marginal. Channels with single vittm, which in the dry fruit till them 

 ns high as the ribs. Commissure with 2 cottar. Involucre 0, or few- 

 leaved. Involucels many-leaved. 



l.C. maculata, 7,. Stem spotted ; lower leaves triternatc and quin- 

 ate ; upper ones suh-biternate ; leaflets lanceolate, acuminate, mucronatc- 

 ly serrate ; umbels terminal and axillary. Beck, Bot.p. 142. 

 Spotted Cicuta. Vulgb— Spotted Cowbane. Water Hemlock. 



Root perennial, with thick oblong fleshy fibres. Stem 4 to (\ feet high, branch- 

 ing, nearly terete, smooth, striate with green and purple, or yellowish brown,— 

 sometimes entirely purple— or, when growing in the shade, green. Leaves smooth; 

 the lower ones on longishpeti*ks, iriternately dissected, with the terminal divi- 

 i. as mostly in fives ; segments, nr leaflets, 2 to :j inches long, lanceolate, some- 

 times rather ovate-lanceolate, penni nerved, the nerves running to the notches of 

 tbe-eerr: lures instead of the points \ petioles often with a membranaceous margin 

 produced into 2 lobes at summit. Umbels spreading; rays slender. Involucre 

 mostly 0, sometimes i or 2 linear leaves. luvolmels of 5 or ti small lance-linear 

 denticulate leaves Calyx-segments rather conspicuous. Petals white. Fr% 

 nearly round ; sides compressed ; ribs Qat, or obtuse, yellowish brown; interstices 

 ddish brown, or dark purple, filled with an aromatic oily matter, Seedoxoid. 

 Hatted and slightly keeled in froat, greyish rr^y-ii. 



Slab. Low swampy grounds ; margins of rivulets : frequent. Fl. July. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. The mature fruit of this is highly aromaiic,-the odor something between 

 that of anise-seed and the kernels of the Mack walnut. The root is an active poi- 

 son ; and numerous lives have been lost, for want of sufficient Botanical knowledge 

 to distinguish the plant from the Osmorhiza, or Sweet Cicely. The herb is also de- 

 structive to Cattle, when eaten by them. There is cno other species in the V. 

 States. 



139. ZIZIA. Koch. J)C. Prodr. 4, p. 99. 

 [Greek, Zizanion, a troublesome weed, ex Eat. sed qu ?] 



Calyx with the limb 5-toothed, or obsolete. Petals elliptic, keeled, 

 with a long tapering inflcxed acuminatum. Fruit roundish, or oval,' 

 compressed at the sides. Carpels with 5 prominent nearly equal ribs, 

 of which the lateral ones arc marginal. Channels with single via*. 

 Commissure with 2 vittx. Involucre 0. Involucels few-leaved. 



1. Z. auiiea? Koch. Leaves biternate ; leaflets oblong-lanceolate, #Y 

 •vate-lanceolatc, acute, serrate, tapering at base ; involucels unilateral 

 about 3-leaved. Beck, Bot. p. 143. 



!6* 



