CLXXXIX THE SLENDER HARE’S-EAR. 
Bupleurum tenuissimum Linne. 
T HE large Tribe Ammine<e , to which our next five types belong, is characterised 
by having compound umbels, laterally compressed fruit with a consequently 
narrow commissure, with only the primary ridges conspicuous, and generally with 
obvious vittae. Besides the genera here represented, it includes Conium (the 
Hemlock), Smyrnium (Alexanders), Apium (Celery), Petroselinum (Parsley), Carum 
(Caraway), and Agopodium (Gout-weed). 
As these names suggest, the Umbelliferte include plants with somewhat varied 
properties. From this point of view they can be conveniently arranged in four 
groups. First, there are those whose stems contain an abundance of a fetid gum- 
resin. This group can hardly be said to be represented among British plants, its 
chief genus being Ferula , the source of Asafcetida (Gum Galbanum), which belongs 
mainly to the dry regions of Central Asia. Secondly, there are those that abound in 
an acrid, watery sap, more or less narcotic and poisonous, including several British 
genera, such as the Hemlock, Water Hemlock, Water Dropworts ( CEnanthe ), and 
Fool’s Parsley ( Athusa ). Thirdly, there are plants with fruits rich in wholesome 
aromatic oils, such as Coriander, Dill, Anise, Cumin, and Caraway ; and fourthly, 
there are those Umbellifer<e which contain some of these various principles in so slight 
a degree that they form wholesome esculents. Such are Carrots, Parsnips, Parsley, 
Fennel, Chervil, Samphire, Eryngo, and Angelica. Celery, too acrid to be used as 
food when green but wholesome when blanched by being earthed up or covered 
from the light, occupies an intermediate position. As will be seen from the list of 
genera in the Tribe Ammine<e given above, this grouping by properties has little 
connection with the subdivision of the Family in accordance with structural 
characters. 
The genus Bupleurum comprises some ninety northern species, erect, glabrous 
plants with yellow flowers, their most striking character being the reduction of their 
leaves to simple, undivided, and entire sheaths, a character practically unique in the 
Family. These phyllodinous leaves are sometimes strongly ribbed longitudinally, a 
character which is said to be the origin of the name Bupleurum , which dates from 
Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine” (459-361 b . c .), and is derived from fioZ 9, 
bous y an ox, vXevpou, pleuron, a rib. Their thickened cuticle, few stomata equally 
distributed on both surfaces, general rigidity, and vertical position adapt the plants 
to the dry conditions under which they mostly live. They include both annuals and 
perennials : there is no free limb to the calyx : the petals are strongly indexed at 
the tip ; and the carpophore between the two oblong pentagonal carpels bifurcates. 
None of our four British species of the genus can be called common. The most 
frequent is, perhaps, B. rotundifolium Linn6, an annual, occurring as a cornfield weed 
on calcareous soil. It has a freely-branching stem ; ovate, acute, perfoliate, glaucous 
