77 
P H E 
acute, the length of the umbellet; perianthium proper, 
five-toothed, permanent. Corolla : univerfal almoft uni¬ 
form ; florets all fertile, in the difk fmaller. Proper un- 
equal; petals five, acuminate, cordate-inflex. Stamina: 
filaments five, capillary, longer than the corolla; antherae 
roundilh. Piftillum: germen inferior; ftyles two, awl- 
fliaped, ereft, permanent; ftigmas blunt. Pericarpium : 
none ; fruit ovate, even, crowned with the perianthium 
and piftils, bipartile. Seeds two, ovate, fmooth.— EJJential 
Chara&er. Florets of the difk fmaller ; fruit ovate, even, 
crowned with the perianthium and piftii. There are but 
two fpecies. 
i. Phellandrium aquaticum, or common water-hemlock: 
ramifications of the leaves divaricated. Root biennial. 
Radical fibres abundant, placed in whorls at the lower 
joints of the ftem, which they fupport by rooting in the 
mud. Stem curved at bottom, and then upright, hollow 
and hydraulic, four inches in thicknefs, fmooth, ftriated 
or (lightly grooved, branched, diftorted, three or four feet 
in height. Branches divaricating. Leaves triply pinnate, 
bright green, fmooth. Petioles arifing from a flieath, 
fiflular, not keeled. Sheaths wide, augmented by a white 
membrane, embracing the ftem. Univerfal umbel droop¬ 
ing, compofed of feven, eight, or nine, or more, unequal 
rays : partial clofer, with a many-leaved involucre; leaflets 
lanceolate, linear or briflle-fhaped. Corolla fmall, white : 
petals little, unequal. Fruit crowned with the little five¬ 
toothed perianthium, oblong, fmooth, with five red ftreaks. 
Native of mofl parts of Europe, by the fide of rivers, 
ditches, and ponds, where there is mud; flowering in June 
and July. A fprig of it is fliown on the Engraving, at 
fig. 3. 
Linnaeus informs us, that the horfes in Sweden, by 
eating this plant are feized with a kind of palfy; hence 
Withering and Sibthorp have named it horfe-bane . This 
effeft however is not to be afcribed to the plant, but to a 
coleopterous infeft breeding in the (talks, which he there¬ 
fore names Curculio paraplefticus. In the winter, the 
roots and ftem, differed by the influence of the weather, 
afford a curious (keleton or net-work. The leaves are 
fometimes added to difcutient cataplafms; and for this 
purpofe Boerhaave fpeaks highly of it. The feeds are 
recommended in intermittents, and are faid to be diure¬ 
tic, antifeptic, and expe&orant; but, when taken in large 
dofes, produce a fenfation of weight in the head, accom¬ 
panied with giddinefs : they manifeft an aromatic acrid 
tafte, approaching to that of lovage. Diftilled with water, 
they yield an efl'ential oil, of a pale yellow colour, and a 
ftrong penetrating finell. One pound of the feed affords 
an ounce of watery extra£i, but nearly double this quan¬ 
tity of fpirituous extraft, of which more than three drams 
confifts of refin. The efficacy of this plant rells chiefly 
on the teftimony of Ernftingius in 1739, an ^ Lange in 
1765, by whom various cafes of its fuccefsful ufe are pub- 
lifhed, efpecially in wounds and inveterate ulcers, and 
even in cancers; alfo in phthifis pulmonalis, afthma, dyf- 
pepfia, and intermittent fevers. Dr. Woodville rightly 
obferves, that, though the diforders here noticed are fo 
diffimilar as to afford no fatisfaftory evidence of the me¬ 
dicinal qualities of thefe feeds, yet they appear to be well 
deferving of farther invefligation. Accordingly, fince 
that time, cafes of recovery from phthifis under the ufe of 
this remedy have from time to time been publifhed in the 
various periodical works of Germany. The feeds are the 
parts employed, and the dofe is from a fcruple to a drachm 
two or three times a-day. Sir Alexander Crichton has 
very recently tried the Phellandrium; and, when the 
pulfe is quick, the cough frequent, and expectoration 
fcanty, he uniformly found it to do harm ; but, in the 
form of confumption defcribed above, and in obftinate 
cafes of chronic bronchitis, it has been of fervice. See 
Crichton on Pulmonary Confumption, 1823. and London 
Medical and Phyfical Journal, N° 291. 
( 3 . Ph. millefolium. In running ftreams the leaves be- 
Vol. XX. No. 1352. 
P H E 
come divided, like thofe of Ranunculus aquatilis, in the 
fame fituation. Dillenius remarked it between Wood- 
ftock and the Duke of Marlborough’s bridge at Blenheim, 
in fuch abundance as to (top the courfe of the ftream. 
Alfo in Hackney-river. Sometimes, though rarely, ac¬ 
cording to the remark of Mr. Relhan, when the plant 
grows in an angle, out of the rapid courfe of the ftream, 
it produces its flowers. 
2. Phellandrium mutellina, or mountain water- 
hemlock : ftem almoft naked, leaves bipinnate. 
Root thick, branched, the head crowned with bridles. 
Stems a foot high, or lefs. Leaves hardifh, bright green, 
more in length than breadth. Linnaeus remarks, that it 
has the leaves of Chserophyllum ; and that the involucrets 
are of the fame length with the umbellets. Scopoli, that 
in the Alps it is a fmall plant; but becomes three times 
as big in a garden ; and has the fruit crowned with a con- 
fiderable calyx, but not with a circle. Haller fays, that 
it has a very aromatic fmell. Native of Siberia, Auftria, 
Carniola and Swifferland. Haller informs us, that the 
goodnefs of the alpine paftures is eftimated by the abun¬ 
dance of this plant. Flowers in Auguft. It was intro¬ 
duced here in 1774, by Drs. Pitcairn and Fothergill. 
PHELLO'E, in ancient geography, a pretty confider- 
able town of the Peloponnefus, in Achaia, near Egira, 
according to Paufanius. In this place were temples of 
Diana and Bacchus, ornamented with ftatues. 
PHEL'LOS, f. [Greek.] A feftival in honour of Bac¬ 
chus, being a preparative to the Dionyfia. 
PHEL'LOS, f. in botany. See Quercus. 
PHEL'LUS, in ancient geography, a town of Alia 
Minor, in Lycia, fituated on low ground, oppofite to An- 
tiphellus. 
PHEL'LUS, or Pheli.o, a town of the Peloponnefus, in 
the Elide, in the vicinity of Olympia. 
PHELLU'SA, an ifland fituated near that of Lefbos. 
PHELYPzE'A. See Pheliptea. 
PHE'MIUS, in fabulous hiftory, a man introduced by 
Homer as a mufician among Penelope’s fuitors. Some 
fay that he taught Homer, for which the grateful poet 
immortalized his name. Homer's Od. —A man, who, 
according to foine, wrote an account of the return of the 
Greeks from the Trojan war. The word is applied by 
Ovid (Am. iii. 7.) indifcriminately to any perfon who 
excels in mufic. 
PHEMON'OE, a prieftefs of Apollo, who is fuppofed 
to have invented heroic verfes. PauJ'. x. 6. 
PHE'NEUS, in ancient geography, a town of Arcadia, 
north-weft of Orchoniene. It was originally built on the 
fummit of a mountain, the ruins of which were feen by 
Paufanius. The new town was erected at the bottom 
of the fame mountain ; but the citadel was fituated on a 
very elevated rock. At Pheneus are the ruins of a tem¬ 
ple of Minerva Triton id; on the declivity of the moun¬ 
tain was a ftadium, and upon a ridge of it was the tomb 
of Iphicles, brother of Hercules, and another of Iolas, 
the companion of his travels. A religious ceremony was 
annually celebrated in honour of him. Mercury was the 
principal divinity of the country ; who had a fine temple, 
with a marble ftatue, executed by a very ingenious fta- 
tuary. Annual games, called “ Hermaean,” were celebra¬ 
ted in honour of him. The Pheneates had alfo a temple 
of Ceres; and the myfteries of this goddefs were celebra¬ 
ted with great folemnity, and in the fame manner as they 
were obferved at Eleufis; and the people of the country 
claimed this original invention. Near Pheneus u'as a 
temple of Apollo Pythius, which was in ruins at the time 
of Paufanius. The inhabitants, however, continued to 
offer facrifices to him, though they had only an altar of 
marble, in (lead of a temple. Evander is faid to have 
been a native of Pheneus, according to the line in Virgil, 
Ain. viii. 165: “Acceffi et cupidus Phenei fub mcenia 
duxi.” 
PHE'NEUS, a lake or marfh of the Peloponnefus, in 
X Arcadia. 
