MELAN OSELINTJH. 
363 
naked sufFrutescent hard and woody downwards, 2-4 ft. (rarely 
5 or 6) high and in. in diam. or about as thick throughout 
as the forefinger, with a fine ample terminal spreading tuft or 
crown of large handsome pale but bright y.-gr. foliage. L. 1-2 ft. 
long 2-3-pinnatisect or -pinnate with the terminal lffcs. con- 
fluent ; the petioles, rachis, stalks of lfts. and their midrib be- 
neath copiously clothed, at least whilst young, with soft downy 
whitish spreading pubescence. Petioles remarkably broad and 
large, winged, with extremely broad dilated smooth and shining 
sheaths which are striated with pellucid pale-gr. lines. Lfts. 
distinct large leaf-like l|-4 or 5 in. long, 1-3 in. broad ovate 
or lanceolate acuminate sharply and unequally inciso-serrate 
(the serratures mucronate), smooth and shining except the mid- 
rib beneath, delicate alike in texture and colour, finely and 
closely pellucid-reticulate with the ribs and nerves more dis- 
tinct on the upper than the under side. From the centre of the 
terminal leaf-crown shoots forth after 1-2 or more years the 
large much-branched leafy broad and crowded panicle or head, 
2 or 3 ft. high of very numerous umbels, of a lighter and more 
delicate gr. even than the rest, and -with the branches and 
whole inflorescence more or less hairy or pubescent. Each 
branch ends in an umbel, and the upper 1. assume gradually the 
form of the general inv. Lateral umbels or branches soon rising 
above the central or primary which is 6-9 in. in diam. with a 
short stout hairy ped. General inv. 10 or 12 leafy oblong-lanceo- 
late acuminate inciso-serrate more or less, sometimes pinnati- 
sect sometimes nearly entire, the edges membranous and ciliate- 
hairy, 1-1^ in. long, 3-4 lines broad spreading or reflexed. 
Partial inv. 8 or 10 lanceolate entire purplish. Umbels con- 
fluent convex in the middle, much like those of Angelica syl- 
vestris L ., with very small crowded dirty w. or purplish more 
than usually fragrant fl. Primary rays about 30 unequal, the 
outer about 2 in. long, roimd slender pubescent, pale, often pur- 
plish ; partial 20-25 unequal crowded pubescent, the outer fl. 
without stam. Ov. hirsutely pubescent. Cal.-teeth very small 
shallow and obsolete tipped with a minute mucro. Pet. all equal 
with a very distinct claw like those of a Malpighia , suddenly 
expanding into a rounded limb notched in the middle with an 
indexed or involute-acuminate lacinula, their edges very mi- 
nutely irregularly and indistinctly fringed or puberulous, always 
purple in the bud and often afterwards. Stam. longer than 
pet., fil. w., antli. purple. Styles long slender divergent capitate 
purple ; stylopods very large and tumid pulvinate not conic 
somewhat lobed pale wax-like. Fr. dorsally flat and rather thin, 
oblong with nearly straight or parallel sides, abrupt or sub- 
truncate at each end and a little cordate at the base, 5 or 6 lines 
long, 2^ broad, 1 thick, finely and shortly pubescent especially 
upwards, dark coffee-brown or black somewhat shining, obso- 
