PARSLEY FAMILY 



215 



i. C. maritimum (Rock Samphire). — Well distinguished by its 

 long, glaucous, fleshy leaflets. — Rocks by the sea. It has a powerful 

 aromatic scent. The young leaves, if gathered in May, make, when 

 sprinkled with salt and preserved in vinegar, one of the best of 

 pickles. On those parts of the coast where Samphire does not 

 occur, other fleshy-leaved plants, especially Salicbrnia herbdcea, are 

 sometimes sold under the same name. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



26. CEnanthe (Water-Dropwort). — Smooth plants, mostly 

 aquatic ; leaves 1 — 3-pinnate ; umbels compound ; flowers white, the 

 outer ones being often 

 irregular and staminate , 

 fruit surrounded by the 

 corky lateral ridges, and 

 crowned with the long 

 erect styles. (Name 

 from the Greek oinos, 

 wine, atithos, a flower, 

 from the wine-like smell 

 of the blossoms.) 



1. CE. fistuldsa (Com- 

 mon Water-Dropwort). 

 —Root of many fleshy 

 fibres ; stem sending out 

 runners, hollow, thin- 

 walled, smooth ; leaf- 

 stalks hollow ; lower 

 leaves submerged, 2 — 3- 

 pinnate, with flat leaf- 

 lets ; upper leaves pin- 

 nate, hollow, with 

 distant, thread-like seg- 

 ments ; umbels small, 



few-rayed, ebracteate, globose in fruit, on hollow peduncles. — 

 Ditches and marshes ; frequent. — Fl. July — September. Perennial. 



2. CE. pimpinelloides (Callous-fruited Water-Dropwort). — Root- 

 fibres tuberous ; stem furrowed ; radical leaves bipinnate ; upper- 

 most leaves reduced to hollow stalks ; umbels 6 — 12-rayed, compact, 

 flat-topped, with many linear bracts ; fruit with a swollen, corky 

 base. — Pastures in the south ; rare. — Fl. June— August. Perennial. 



3. CE. peucedanifblia (Sulphur- wort, Water Dropwort). — A 

 larger, stouter plant ; root-fibres fusiform ; leaves bipinnate with 

 linear, acute leaflets ; fewer-rayed, less crowded umbels with no 

 bracts, but numerous bracteoles ; fruit much as in the last, but 



crithmum MARfTiMUM {Rock Samphire). 



