202 THE UMBELLATE FAMILY. — [Physospermum. — 
Stem erect, almost leafless, 14 to 2 feet high, slightly branched. Radical 
leaves on long stalks, twice or thrice ternate; the segments ovate or 
cuneate, and deeply cut. Umbels terminal, of 10 to 12 rays, with rather 
large, white flowers. Involucres, both general and partial, of very few 
linear bracts. The fruits have the appearance of two little smooth 
bladders placed face to face, with a loose seed in each. 
A mountain plant, occurring here and there along the great Huropean 
chain from the Asturias to the Caucasus, and reappearing in a few very 
limited localities in Cornwall and Devonshire. FI. late in summer. The 
Continental plant, P. commutatwm, Spr., is by some botanists considered 
_as a distinct species from the British one, but the characters appear to. 
have been derived from the examination of single specimens. 
ee et oe 
XXXV. SMYRNIUM. SMYRNIUM. 
Leaves entire or dissected. Umbels compound, either without in- 
volucre, or only a very few small bracts. Flowers yellow. Fruit 2- 
lobed ; the carpels ovoid, attached by the very narrow face, each with 
3 prominent-angular ribs, and several vittas under the interstices. 
Albumen with a longitudinal furrow on the inner face. 
A genus of few species, from the Mediterranean region and western 
Asia. 
1. S. Olusatrum, Linn. (fig. 455). <Alexanders.—A coarse, erect 
annual or biennial, 2 to 4 feet high, and nearly glabrous. Lower leaves 
twice or thrice, upper ones but once ternate; the segments, broadly 
ovate, coarsely toothed or 3-lobed, 2 or more inches long and broad, 
and often of ja yellowish-green. Umbels terminal, of 8 to 12 rays. 
Flowers of a greenish-yellow, much crowded in the partial umbels. 
As the fruit ripens, the peduncles are often much thickened under the 
umbels. Carpels above 3 lines long, very angular. 
In meadows and waste places, especially near the sea, all round the 
Mediterranean and up western Europe to the English Channel. Pro- 
bably indigenous in several counties of southern England and Ireland ; 
having been formerly much cultivated, it has spread into many inland 
parts of England and southern Scotland. /. spring and early summer. 
. 
XXXVI. CORIANDRUM. CORIANDER. | 
Fruit globular, not readily separating into the two carpels, crowned 
by the conspicuous teeth of the calyx, the ribs scarcely prominent, and 
no vittas. 
A single species, very distinct in the form of the fruit. 
1. C. sativum, Linn. (fig. 456). Coriander.—An erect, branching, 
glabrous annual, 1 to 14 feet high, emitting a very disagreeable smell 
when rubbed. Lowest leaves once or twice pinnate, with broadly-ovate 
or cuneate, deeply-cut segments ; the others more divided, with linear 
segments, few and slender in the uppermost leaves. Umbels terminal, 
rather small, of 5 to 8 rays, without general involucre, and only a few 
small slender bracts to the partial ones. Flowers white, the outer 
petals larger. Fruits about 2 lines long. 
A native of the Levant, long since cultivated in Europe, and occasion- 
_ally spreading as a weed of cultivation. Said to be established as such © 
in some of the southern and eastern counties of England. Fl. summer. f 
