UMBELLIFERS 509 
nous. Its bluish green stem attains the height of three feet and 
upwards. This stem is tumid or hollow, as are the petioles of the 
leaves, which are large, doubly compound, and serrated. The 
flowers form little umbellicles, disposed again in umbels; they are 
small, and of a greenish colour. The calyx presents a limb formed 
of five very small teeth. The corolla is composed of five petals, free, 
elliptic, entire, curved ; from within it has five stamens, dorsally 
attached to the filaments, and alternating with the projecting 
petals, opening from within by two longitudinal clefts. The pistil is 
composed of an inferior ovary, surmounted by two spreading styles, 
terminated by a small ovoid stigma. This ovary is two-celled, 
each cell enclosing a suspended anatropal ovule. When at 
maturity, the fruit, which is winged, constitutes two achenz, one 
for each cell, all of which finally separate, and remain suspended at 
the extremity of the two filaments, which are prolongations of the 
receptacle. Each achena encloses one seed, formed almost entirely 
of horny albumen, towards the upper oe of which a small 
cylindrical embryo is enclosed. 
The family of the Umbelliferze is one of the most important of 
the vegetable world, as well for the number of the species which 
compose it, as for the medicinal and economic properties which 
belong to the different species. One of the characteristic traits 
in the organisation of the Umbelliferee consists in the presence of 
reservoirs or canals within the fruit, which contain aromatic vola- 
tile oils. 
The Angelica (Archangelica officinalis), which we have just been 
examining, contains an aromatic and stimulating juice in abund- 
ance ; it is principally cultivated for the confectioners, who prepare 
a preserve from the young stems, which are candied with sugar 
and perfumed, to neutralise the bitterness and acridity of the plant. 
The Wood Archangel (A. sylvestris), which grows wild on banks 
of rivers, and in wet and marshy places, contains analogous pro- 
perties, but in a less degree. The same is the case with the 
Imperial Angelica and the Master Wort. 
A greater number of the Umbelliferse, which are cultivated in 
all parts of Europe, furnish fruits with a hot and aromatic flavour, 
which have been employed from time immemorial as condiments. 
Such are the Aniseed (Pimpenella anisum), Cummin (Cuminum 
