UMBELLIFEROUS PLANTS. 
151 
Shakspeare also calls the same flower, " Love in idleness." You 
will. find the blue violet ( Viola ccsrulia) among the first flowers of 
spring. Our meadows present a great variety of beautifiil and fra- 
grant violets. 
The genus Capsicum aflfords the Cayenne pepper and the red pep- 
per of our gardens. The pericarps, when ripe, are of a bright red ; 
the seeds, which are attached to a central column, are heating and 
stimulating. A draught of hot cider and molasses, with a pod or 
two of red pepper steeped in it, was long held in high repute, in New 
England, as a remedy for colds. The green peppers are used for 
pickles. We might enumerate many other interesting plants which 
belong to this order, but our limits will not permit. The family of 
the ConvolvuU, or the morning-glory tribe, and of the Caprifolice^ or 
bush-honeysuckle tribe, are composed of genera o^pentandrous plants. 
LECTURE XXVI. 
CLASS PENTANDRIA — CoUtiuUed. 
Order Digynia. 
In this order of the fifth class, is the family Gentiance, which af- 
fords some delicate flowers, as well as medicinal articles. The 
fringed gentian is a beautiful plant with a blue flower. This genus 
sometimes presents an irregularity in the number of stamens. In 
the natural family, called Atriplices, from the genus Atriplex., (sea- 
orache,) is the pig- weed, Chenopodium; this plant, notwithstanding 
its humble appearance, is dignified with a high-sounding name. It 
is grouped by natural characters with the beet and dock, flowers 
, which are destitute of beauty. According to the late arrangement 
of natural orders by De Candolle and Lindley, we find the order 
ChenopodicB, in which is the pig- weed, water-hemp, and several other 
plants, placed by Jussieu in his order Atriplices. 
Umbelliferous Plants. 
We meet, in this order of the class Pentandria,with a family of plants 
closely allied by natural characters ; these are called umbelliferous 
from the Latin imfteZ^a, an umbrella, on account of the manner in which 
the peduncles grow out from the main stem.* Among the plants of 
this family, which are used for food, are the carrot, parsnip, celery, 
and parsley ; .the aromatics are dill, fennel, caraway, coriander, and 
sweet cicely. Poison hemlock, (Conium,) water parsnip, (Sium,) 
water cow-bane, are among the poisonous plants of this tribe. The 
water cow-bane (Cicuta virosd) grows in ponds and marshes. Cows 
are often killed in the spring by eating it, but as the summer ad- 
vances, the smell becomes stronger, and they carefully avoid it. 
Linnaeus relates, that in a tour made into Lapland, for scientific pur- 
oses, he was told of a disease among the cattle of Torneo, which 
illed a great many in the spring, when they first began to feed in 
pastures. The inhabitants were unable to account for this circum- 
stance ; but the Swedish botanist examining the pastures, discover- 
ed a marsh where the Cicuta virosa grew in abundance ; he ao- 
* See Plate ii. Pig, 3, for a plant of this family. 
Capsicum— Gentianae— Family Atriplices — Chenopodiae — What is the origin of the 
word umbelliferous?— What are some of the plants of this family ?— What is said of 
the water cow-bane? 
