UMBELLIFEEZE. 



369 



ments, usually lanceolate or linear, some- 

 times short and crenate ; upper leaves 

 with fewer and narrower divisions. Um- 

 bels terminal, rather large, with nume- 

 rous crowded rays ; the inner ones very 

 short, the outer much longer, and usually 

 closing over after flowering, so as to give 

 a concave or globular form to the umbel, 

 with the fruit inside. Bracts of both 

 involucres usually divided into 3 or 5 long 

 linear lobes. Fruit covered with prickles, 

 of which the larger ones are often much 

 flattened at the base. 



Probably an original native of the 

 seacoasts of southern Europe, but of 

 very ancient cultivation, and sows itself 

 most readily, soon degenerating to the 

 wild form with a slender root, and now 

 most abundant in fields, pastures, waste 

 places, etc., throughout Europe and 

 Russian Asia. Common in Britain, especially near the sea. FL the 

 tvhole summer and autumn. A decidedly maritime variety, with the 

 leaves somewhat fleshy, with shorter segments, more or less thickened 

 peduncles, more spreading umbels, and more flattened prickles to the 

 fruits, is often considered as a distinct species (D. maritimus, Eng. Bot. 

 t. 2560.) 



Fig. 445. 



XXXY. HEMLOCK. CONIUM. 



Leaves dissected. Umbels compound, with general and partial in- 

 volucres and small white flowers. Fruit broadly ovate, somewhat 

 laterally compressed, without distinct calycine teeth. Carpels with 5 

 prominent ribs, which when ripe are often slightly waved or crenated. 

 JNTo vittas. Albumen with a deep longitudinal furrow on the inner 

 face. 



A single species, with the short fruit of an Apium or Cowhane, but 

 differing essentially in the deeply furrowed albumen. 



1. Common Hemlock. Conium maculatum, Linn. (Fig. 446.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1191.) 



An erect, branching annual or biennial, 3 to 5 feet high or some- 

 times more, usually glabrous, and emitting a nauseous smell when 



