348 



THE UMBELLATE FAMILY. 



Fig. 421. 



long been much cultivated, and establishes 

 itself readily in stony or arid hilly situa- 

 tions, especially near the sea, so that it 

 is now generally diffused over temperate 

 Europe and western Asia. Occurs in 

 many parts of Britain, and may be even 

 indigenous on some points of the coasts 

 of England and Ireland. FL late in 

 summer, and autumn. 



XIX. 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 Athamanta, by others con- 

 sidered as an independent genus under the name of Libanotis. 



1. Mountain Seseli. Seseli Libanotis, Koch. (Fig. 422.) 



{Athamanta, Eng. Bot. t. 138.) 



Stock perennial, short, covered with the decayed remains of old leaf- 

 stalks. Stems stout, erect, 1 to 2 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 gene- 



