Peucedanum.] XXXV. UMBELLIFERS. 195 
only a few very slender small bracts to the partial ones. LFlowers 
white. Fruit nearly orbicular, about 2 lines diameter. 
A native of mountain pastures in central Europe; formerly much 
cultivated as a pot-herb, and now naturalised in several parts of 
northern Europe, in the north of England, and in Scotland. 1. early 
summer. 
XXIV. PASTINACA. PARSNIP. 
Habit and fruit of Heraclewm, but the flowers are yellow and all 
small. ‘The vittas are also usually more slender, and descend lower 
down on the fruit, but this character is not constant. 
A genus of very few species, chiefly from the Mediterranean region 
and west-central Asia, now often reduced to a section of Peucedanum. 
1], P. sativa, Linn. (fig. 438). Common P.—An annual or biennial, 
forming a tap-root, with an erect stem seldom more than 2 feet high 
when wild, 3 or 4 when cultivated. Lower leaves pinnate, coarse, and 
more or less downy, especially on the under side, with 5, 7, or 9 seg- 
ments, each 1 to 3 inches long, sharply toothed, and more or less lobed, 
especially the terminal one; upper leaves small and less divided. 
Umbels not very large, of 8 to 12 rays, usually without involucres, 
Fruits about 3 lines long, flat and oval, with scarcely prominent ribs, 
the vittas very conspicuous, descending nearly to the base of the fruit. 
In pastures and thickets, on banks and edges of fields, throughout 
central and southern Hurope, and temperate Russian Asia. Frequent 
in England, extending at least as far north as Durham, an escape in 
Scotland, and doubtful native of Ireland. Fl. summer. 
XXV. HERACLEUM. HERACLEUM. 
Coarse, rough herbs, the leaves dissected with large segments. 
Umbels compound; the bracts few and deciduous or none. Flowers 
white; the outer petals of each umbel larger. Fruit flattened from 
front to back, with a single thin border (splitting only by the separa- 
tion of the carpels). Carpels broad, with 3 very fine, scarcely promi- 
nent ribs ; or if 5, the 2 outside ones close to the border. Vittas single 
to each interstice, not descending to the base of the fruit, and often 
thickened at the lower end. 
A rather natural genus, comprising a considerable number of species, 
from the mountains of central and southern Europe, and especially 
central Asia, with a single North American one. Some Asiatic species, 
remarkable for their size (the annual stems 12 to 15 feet, with umbels 
more than a foot in diameter), are occasionally grown in our gardens. 
1. H. Sphondylium, Linn. (fig. 489). Cow Parsnip or Hogweed.—A 
tall, coarse plant, although not quite so large nor so much branched as 
Angelica sylvestris, and the stock of much shorter duration, but not 
strictly biennial as commonly supposed; the whole plant more or less 
rough, with short, stiff hairs. Leaves pinnate, with 3, 5, or 7 large, 
broad segments, usually 3-lobed and toothed, from 3 to 5 inches long 
and at least as broad, sometimes more numerous and much narrower. 
Umbels large, of about 20 rays, the outer petals much larger than the 
others. Carpels nearly orbicular, 3 or 4 lines long; the vittas very 
conspicuous, often only reaching halfway down the fruit. 
