Myrrhis.] XXXV. UMBELLIFER^E. 197 



A single species, scarcely distinct as a genus from Chcerophyllum. 



1. M. odorata, Scop. (fig. 442). Sweet Cicely. — An erect, branching* 

 hairy perennial, 2 'to 3 feet high, with the foliage and habit of a Choero- 

 phyllum and highly aromatic. Leaves large, thin, twice or three times 

 pinnate, with numerous lanceolate segments, deeply pinnatifid and 

 toothed. Umbels terminal, not large, with seldom more than 8 or 10 

 rays, and of these but few ripen their fruits. No general involucre ; 

 bracts of the partial ones lanceolate, thin whitish, with fine points. 

 Fruits when ripe 6 or 7 lines to near an inch long ; the very prominent 

 ribs occasionally rough with minute hairs. 



A native of mountain pastures, in central and southern Europe, from 

 the Pyrenees to the Caucasus. Of ancient cultivation in more northern 

 Europe, it has frequently established itself in the neighbourhood of 

 cottages. In Britain, believed by some to be truly indigenous in the 

 hilly districts of Wales, northern England, and Scotland, where, at any 

 rate, it is perfectly naturalised. Fl. spring and early summer. 



XXIX. CONOPODIUM. CONOPODIUM. 



Leaves dissected. Umbels compound, either without involucres or 

 with very few small' bracts, and white flowers. Fruit oval-oblong, 

 somewhat laterally compressed, shortly contracted at the top, with 

 erect, or slightly spreading styles. Carpels with 5 scarcely perceptible 

 ribs, and several very slender vittas under the interstices. Albumen of 

 the seed, with a longitudinal furrow on the inner face. 



A genus of few species, chiefly from the Mediterranean region, with 

 the habit of the tuberous Carums, but with a fruit more nearly allied 

 to that of some Chcerophyllums, although shorter. 



1. G. denudatum, Koch. (fig. 443). Earthnut, Pignut. — The perennial 

 stock consists of a globular tuber, the annual stems erect, slender, 

 glabrous, 1 to near 2 feet high, with a few forked branches. Radical 

 leaves few and decaying early, with 3 long- stalked segments, each once 

 or twice pinnate ; the ultimate divisions short, narrow, pointed, entire 

 or 3-lobed. Stem-leaves few, with narrow-linear divisions ; the central 

 lobe of each segment much longer than the lateral ones. Umbels 

 terminal, or one opposite the last leaf, of 6 to 10 rays. The ribs and 

 vittas of the fruit are scarcely perceptible. Bunium flexuosum, With. 



In woods and pastures, chiefly known as a west European plant. 

 Much more common in Britain than Carum JBulbocastanum, which is also 

 known under the name of Pignut. Fl. summer. 



XXX. CHiEROPHYLLUM. CHERVIL. 



Leaves dissected. Umbels compound, with partial involucres of 

 several bracts, and white flowers. Fruit narrow-oblong or linear, con- 

 tracted at the top, and sometimes forming a beak always much shorter 

 than the seed. Carpels with 5 ribs, sometimes only apparent at the 

 top, either without vittas or with one vitta under each interstice. Seed 

 marked with a longitudinal furrow on the inner face. 



A considerable and rather natural genus, widely diffused over the 

 northern hemisphere without the tropics. It is usually divided into 



