UMBELLIFEftE. 



371 



A mountain plant, occurring here and 

 there along the great European chain 

 from the Asturias to the Caucasus, and 

 reappearing in a few very limited locali- 

 ties in Cornwall and Devonshire. Fl. 

 late in summer. The Continental plant 

 is by some botanists considered as a dis- 

 tinct species from the British one, but 

 the characters appear to have been de- 

 rived from the examination of single 

 specimens. 



^/>. 



Fig. 447. 



XXXVII. SMYRNZUM. SMYRNIUM. 



Leaves entire or dissected. Umbels compound, either without invo- 

 lucres or only a very few small bracts. Flowers yellow. Fruit 2-lobed ; 

 the carpels ovoid, attached by the very narrow face, each with 3 pro- 

 minent, angular ribs, and several vittas under the interstices. Albu- 

 men with a longitudinal furrow on the inner face. 



A genus of very few species, from the Mediterranean region and 

 western Asia. 



1. Common Smyrnium. Smyrnium Olusatrum, Linn. 

 (Fig. 448.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 230. Alexanders.) 



A coarse, erect annual or biennial, 2 to 4 feet high, and nearly gla- 

 brous. Lower leaves twice or thrice, upper ones but once ternate ; the 

 segments broadly ovate, coarsely toothed or 3-lobed, 2 or more inches 

 long and broad, and often of a yellowish-green. Umbels terminal, of 

 8 to 12 rays. Flowers of a greenish yellow, much crowded in the 

 partial umbels. As the fruit ripens, the peduncles are often much 

 thickened under the umbels. Carpels above 3 lines long, very an- 

 gular. 



