382 
PENTANDRIA. DIGYNIA. (Enanthe. 
(Root tuberous. Stems upright, rising two or three feet above the water, 
cylindrical, hollow as if inflated, striated, smooth, glaucous. Involucrum 
either none, or of one of five leaves. Umbel spokes from two to seven. 
The first umbel is cloven into three parts; the succeeding ones into many ; 
so that the plant changes its appearance considerably in the course of the 
summer. Petals white (or pinkish ; segments of the calyx minute ; seed 
ovate-truncate. E.) 
Common Water-dropwort. (Welsh: Dibynlorpibellaidd. E.) Ponds 
and ditches, frequent. 
P. May—Aug.* 
O. croca'ta. (Leafits all wedge-shaped, many-cleft, nearly equal. E.) 
(Hook. FI. Fond. 201— E. Bot. 2313. E.)— Phil. Tr.Abr. x. 23, at p. 772— 
Blackw. 575—-Gent. Mag-. 1747. xvii. p. 322— Jacq. Hort. iii. 55 — Woodv. 
267— Pet. 25. 7 —H. Ox. ix. 7, row 2. 2—Lob. Adv. 32 6. 2—Ic. i. 730. 2— 
Ger. Em. 1059. 4— Park. 894. 6— J. B. iii. 2. 193. 2. 
(Root of many fleshy knobs, abounding with an orange-coloured, fetid, very 
poisonous juice, such as exudes less plentifully from all parts of the herb, 
when wounded. Stem two to five feet high, much branched, somewhat 
forked, leafy, cylindrical, furrowed, hollow. Leaves dark shining green. 
Sm. Distinguished by the broad leaflets even in the very uppermost 
leaves. Umbel rather large. Hook. E.) Leaves , some winged; but 
more doubly winged. The little leaves wedge-shaped, smooth, streaked, 
jagged. Petals white, acute, incurved. Involucrum wanting. Linn. It 
has an involucrum of five strap-shaped leafits, about half the length of the 
shorter spokes, but it very readily falls off. Gough. Stem and leaves 
quite devoid of hairs. Umbellules nearly globular. General blossom not 
very unequal. 
(Prof. Hooker suspects that a remarkable variety, if not a new species, may 
be occasionally observed in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, yielding 
merely a watery fluid, instead of a fetid yellow juice. We beg to remark, 
on the authority of Miller, that in the ordinary state of O. crocata , “the 
juice is at first like milk, and turns afterwards to a saffron colour.” E.) 
Hemlock Water-dropwort. Dead Tongue. (Irish: Dahou ban. 
Welsh: Dibynlor cegidaidd; Gysplys. E.) Watery places, banks of 
rivers and ditches. Meadows, near Hanley Hall, Worcestershire. Mr. 
Ballard. Between Bishop's Aukland and Wolsingham, and near Stockton, 
Durham. Mr. Robson. Bent Bogs, near Manchester race ground. Mr. 
Caley. (Occasionally about Liverpool. Dr. Bostock. By the sides of 
brooks, rivers, and ponds, common in Dorsetshire. Pulteney. In plenty 
near the Red House, in Battersea fields, on the Thames’ bank. Salisbury. 
By the rivers and brooks of Cumberland. Mr. Winch. Anglesey. Welsh 
Bot. Riverbank near Lass wade, Edinburgh. Greville. E.) 
P. June—July.f 
O. pimpinelloPdes. Leafits of the root-leaves wedge-shaped, cloven : 
those of the stem entire, strap-shaped, very long: general invo¬ 
lucre many strap-shaped leaves. E.) 
* Cows and horses refuse it; though, from experiments made on purpose, it does not 
appear to be in the least degree noxious to the former. 
j* The whole of the plant is poisonous. Many instances of its rapidly fatal effects are 
recorded ; for which see Phil. Tr. ib. and vol. i. p. 856; Gent. Mag. July, 1747, March, 
1755, and Sept. 1758. An infusion of the leaves, or three teaspoonfuls of the juice of the 
