326 



THE UMBELLATE FAMILY. 



V. COWBANE. CICUTA. 



Leaves dissected. Umbels compound, without any general involucre, 

 or only one or two small bracts ; the partial involucre of many bracts. 

 Calyx-teeth prominent above the ovary. Petals white, obcordate. 

 Fruit short, laterally compressed ; each carpel nearly globular, with 5 

 scarcely prominent, broad, flat ribs, and single vittas under the furrows. 



A genus of very few species, spread over the northern hemisphere ; 

 distinguished among the short-fruited Umbellates with single vittas 

 chiefly by the prominent teeth of the calyx. 



1. Water Cowbane. Cicuta virosa, Linn. (Fig. 396.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 479. Cowbane. Water Hemlock.) 



Stem hollow, somewhat branched, at- 

 taining 3 or 4 feet. Leaves twice or thrice 

 pinnate or ternate, with narrow-lanceo- 

 |y late, acute segments, 1 to 1^ inches long, 

 bordered with a few unequal, acute teeth. 

 General umbels of from 10 to 15 or even 

 more rays. Bracts of the partial invo- 

 lucres subulate, not quite so long as the 

 pedicels. 



In wet ditches and on the edges of 

 lakes, in northern and central Europe, 

 [Russian Asia, and northern America, 

 disappearing in southern Europe. Very 

 local in Britain, and never abundant, al- 

 though occurring in several counties of 

 England, Ireland, and southern Scot- 

 land. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 396. 



VI. APIUM. APIUM. 



Leaves dissected. Umbels compound. JNo involucres. Petals en- 

 tire, white, with a small, inflected point ; fruit short, slightly com- 

 pressed laterally, without visible calycine teeth. Carpels ovoid, with 5 

 slender ribs, and single vittas under the furrows, and 2 on the face, 

 next the axis ; the axis or carpophore free and entire, or shortly split 

 at the top. 



A genus which has been differently understood and characterized by 



