180 THE UMBELLATE FAMILY. 
. CICUTA. COWBANE. 
ae dissected. aes compound, without any general involucre, 
or only 1 or 2 small bracts ; the partial involucre offmany bracts. Calyx- 
teeth prominent above the ovary. Petals white, obcordate. Fruit 
short, laterally compressed ; each carpel nearly globular, with 5 scarcely 
prominent, broad, flat ribs, and single vittas under the furrows. 
A genus of very few species, spread over the northern hemisphere ; 
distinguished among the short-fruited Umbellifere with single vittas 
chiefly by the prominent teeth of the calyx. 
1. ©. virosa, Linn. (fig. 403). Cowbane, Water Hemlock.—Stem 
hollow, somewhat branched, attaining 3 or 4 feet. Leaves twice or 
thrice pinnate or ternate, with narrow-lanceolate, acute segments, 1 to 
14 inches long, bordered with a few unequal acute teeth. General — 
umbels of from 10 to 15 or even more rays. LBracts of the partial 
involucres subulate, not quite so long as the pedicels. 
In wet ditches and on the edges of lakes, in northern and central 
Kurope, Russian Asia, and northern America, disappearing in southern 
Kurope. Very local in Britain, and never abundant, although occurring 
in several counties of England, Ireland, and southern Scotland. fl. 
summer. | 
VI. APIUM. APIUM. 
Leaves cissected. Umbels compound, mostly lateral and nearly 
sessile, without any general involucre, or only 2 or 3 small bracts; the 
partial involucres of several bracts or none. Petals entire, white, with 
a small inflected point ; fruit short, shghtly compressed laterally, with- 
out visible calycine teeth. Carpels ovoid, with 5 slender ribs, and 
single vittas under the furrows ; the axis or carpophore free and entire, 
and shortly split at the top. 
In the revision of Uimbellifere which has taken place since the early 
editions of this Handbook, the genus Apium has been extended so as 
to include /elosciadvum, and is now a fairly natural genus, generally 
spread over the greater part of the globe. 
No partial involucres. Leaves with 3 to 5 broad crenate or lobed : 
segments ; ‘ ‘ : ; : . 1. A. graveolens. 
Partial involucres of sever al bracts. 
Leaves of several pairs of ovate or lanceolate toothed segments. 
Rays of the umbel about 5 or 6 . . 2. A. nodiflorum. 
Leaf-segments few, usually lobed or divided: Rays of the umbel 
about 38 or4. : ; . 3. A. trundatum. 
1. A. graveolens, site (fig. 404). oul sia its wild state not a 
stout plant; quite glabrous ; 1 to 2 feet nih Leaves pinnate, with 3 
or 5 distinct broad seoments, crenate or 8-lobed, from 6 to 9 lines long, 
the upper leaves very small. Umbels small, nearly sessile on the upper 
branches, opposite the’ leaves, or on very short terminal peduncles seldom 
2 lines above the last leaves ; divided into from 3 to 6 rays, and bearing 
numerous small flowers, on short pedicels. Fruits very small, the 
vittas often very indistinct. 
In marshy places near the sea, on the coasts of Europe, Africa, 
western Asia, and America, but not in high northern latitudes. In 
Britain it extends as far north as the middle counties of Scotland, and ~ 
is occasionally found inland, but then mostly escaped from cultivation. — 
