Fceniculum.] XXXV. UMBELLIFER.3E. 191 



1. F. vulgare, Gsetn. (fig. 428). Common F. — Stock perennial, but 

 usually of short duration. Stems erect, branched, 2 or 3 feet high, or 

 when cultivated, still taller. Leaves 3 or 4 times pinnate, with very- 

 narrow, linear or subulate segments, rather stiff in dry situations, very 

 slender when cultivated. Umbels rather large, of 15, 20, or more rays, 

 more or less glaucous. Fruit about 3 lines long, the vittas very con- 

 spicuous. F. officinale, All. 



On dry, rocky banks, apparently of south European origin, but has 

 long been cultivated, and establishing itself readily in stony or arid 

 hilly situations, especially near the sea, it is now diffused over temperate 

 Europe and western Asia. Occurs in many parts of Britain, and may 

 be indigenous on the coast of England, from North Wales to Norfolk, 

 but not north of it; nor in Ireland. FL rather late in summer, and 

 autumn. 



XVII. SESELI. SESELI. 



Leaves dissected. Umbels compound, with partial and sometimes 

 general involucres of several bracts. Petals white, usually notched, 

 with an inflected point. Fruit ovoid or oblong, not compressed, the 

 calycine teeth usually prominent. Carpels with 5 prominent, often 

 thick ribs, and single, or rarely 2 or more vittas under each furrow. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over the northern hemisphere in 

 the Old World. The British species belongs to a section differing from 

 the more common ones in habit, and in the hairy fruit, and is united 

 by some with the southern genus Aihamanta, by others considered as 

 an independent genus under the name Libanotis. 



1. S. Libanotis, Koch. (fig. 429). Mountain S. — Stock perennial, 

 short, covered with the decayed remains of old leafstalks. Stems stout, 

 erect, 1 to 4 feet high, slightly branched. Leaves chiefly radical, thrice 

 pinnate, with small, ovate or lanceolate, pinnately lobed segments ; the 

 stem-leaves few and much smaller. Umbels of 20 to 30 or more rays, 

 with numerous narrow bracts, both to the general and the partial 

 involucres. Flowers white, crowded. Fruits always hairy, and there 

 is often a minute whitish down on the stems, petioles, and umbels. 



In hilly pastures, in central and eastern Europe and Russian Asia, 

 less frequent in the west, and wanting in the south. In Britain, 

 limited to chalk-hills in Hertford, Cambridge, and Sussex. FL summer 



XVIII. LIGUSTICUM. LOVAGE. 



Leaves dissected. Umbels compound, with partial involucres of 

 many bracts. Petals white, notched, with an inflected point. Fruit 

 ovoid, or oblong, not compressed, the calycine teeth scarcely distinct, 

 Carpels with 5 very prominent acute ribs, almost expanded into wings, 

 and several vittas under each furrow. 



A genus of several European, Asiatic, and North American species, 

 chiefly mountain plants, differing from Seseli in the acute ribs of the 

 fruit and indistinct calycine teeth. 



1. L. scoticum, Linn. (fig. 430). Scotch L. — Stock perennial, 

 descending into a tap-root. Stem erect, glabrous, thick and hollow, 1 

 to 2 feet high, slightly branched. Lower leaves on long stalks, deeply 



