CLASS PENTANDEIA. 
145 
Calyx, a, an involucrum ; the leaves at the foot of the unwersal umbel iorrc 
f-* general involucrum ; the leaves at the foot of the partial umbel form a partial 
hA}olucrum. The involucrums are pinnatifid. 
2. Corolla, b, represented as magnified ; it has five petals, injlexed, or bent in- 
■rard. 
3. Stamens five, anthers somewhat divided. 
4. Pistils two, rejlexed, as seen on the seed c, where the stigmas are permanent. 
5. Pericarp, is wanting in all umbellate plants. 
6. Seed, c, is round, with its two styles at the summit ; it consists of two carpels, 
separating from each other by their faces (commissure) int« halves. 
7. Stem, d, hollow, furrowed, herbaceous, branched, pinnatifid, compound, and 
sheathing. 
8. Leaves, e, narrow, pinnatifid. 
9. Flowers, terminal, umbelled.* 
In distinguishing the genera of umbelliferous plants, the figure, position, albumen, 
margin, and angles of the seeds are much regarded. The seeds of the carrot are 
bristly, of the poison hemlock ribbed, of the parsnip flat. The Umbelliferse are a 
united family ; we meet with no disunionists having stamens more or less than the 
normal number. 
191. Order Trigynia.^ three pistils. — ^The elder {Sanibucus) is 
a small shrub which ornaments the fields during summer with 
its clusters of delicate white flowers. From the appearance of 
the blossom it might be regarded as umbelliferous ; the stalks 
radiate from one common center, but s^yq u\\QqvL2X\j subdimded ; 
this arrangement of flowers is called a cyme. The dark, rich 
purple berries of the elder, and the peculiarity of its pithy 
of Montpelier bestowed more pains npon them than any ether botanist has ever done ; but the world has, 
OS yet, been favored with only a part of his remarks. His labors met with a most ungrateful check, in 
the unkindness and mortifying stupidity of his wife, who, in his absence from home, is recorded to 
have destroyed his whole herbarium, scraping off the dried specimens for the sake of the paper on which 
they were pasted!" — Smit/i's Introductiov to Botany. 
* The description of tliis plant is given on the authority of Nuttall, who calls it the American con- 
Bnder, which he found in the neighborhood of the Red River. The cultivated coriander has a ow 
«afed involucrum. 
Describe Fig. 135— Circumstances noted in describing umbelliferous plants.— 191. Elder. 
