472 
STRUCTURE AND LIFE HISTORIES 
that the numerous flower-stalks are of such relative 
lengths as to bring all the flowers to substantially the same 
plane (Fig. 356), and that the outer flower buds open first; 
in other words the anthesis is centripetal. Some of the 
FIG. 355. Heracleum lanatum (Parsley family). Individual flower from 
the margin of an umbel. 
FIG. 356. A compound umbel of cow parsnip (Heracleum lanatum). 
genera of this 'family (e.g., caraway, 'parsley, parsnips, 
carrots) are edible, while, as often happens in other 
families also, some of their near relatives (e.g., the water- 
hemlock, Cicuta) are very poisonous. 
