196 THE UMBELLATE FAMILY. [ Peucedanum. 
wort.—Stock perennial, with stout, erect stems, 2 to 3 feet high. Leaves 
divided into 3 large, broad segments, which are again deeply 3-lobed and 
coarsely toothed, 3 to 4 inches long, and often rather rough with a few 
short hairs, but much less so than in Heracleum; the lateral segments 
descend much lower along the leafstalk on the outer than on the inner side. 
Umbels large, terminal, of 40 or 50 rays, without any general involucre, 
and only a few very slender small bracts to the partial ones. Flowers 
white. Fruit nearly orbicular, about 2 lines diameter. 
- A native of mountain pastures in central Europe; formerly much culti- 
vated as a pot-herb, and now naturalized in several parts of northern 
Kurope as well as in the north of England and in Scotland. 1. early 
summer. : 
XXIV. PASTINACA. PARSNIP. 
Habit and fruit of Heracleuwm, 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. 436). Common Parsnip.—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 cen- 
tral and southern Europe, and temperate Russian Asia, Frequent in Eng- 
land, extending at least as far north as Durham, an escape in Scotland, and 
doubtful native of Ireland. #7. 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 separation of the carpels). Car- 
pels broad, with 8 very fine, scarcely prominent 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. 437). Common Heracleum, Cow 
Parsnip or Hogweed.—A tall, coarse plant, although not quite so large nor so ~ 
