Dicotyledons with Polypetalous Flowers — Umbelliferce . 
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FLOWERS usually in terminal compound umbels, hermaphrodite and staminate, frequently irregular owing to the 
larger development of the petals turned from the centre of the umbel; umbels lateral in Celery ( 4 pmm), being 
overtopped by an axillary shoot; flowers capitate in Sea Holly. Involucre occasionally wanting, as in Fennel. 
Calyx adherent; limb obsolete, or reduced to small teeth as in Sanicle ( Sanicula ), and Astrantia. 
Petals epigynous, 5 ; usually obcordate with incurved tips. 
Fruit (a cremocarp ), laterally compressed in Hemlock ( Conium ), yet more so in Hydrocotyle; dorsally 
compressed in Cow Parsnip ( Heracleum ): separating when ripe into two carpels ( mericarps ) from a short central 
forked axis (carpophore) : carpels smooth as in Chervil (Anthriscus) ; with winged primary ridges (answering to the 
carinal and sutural lines of the united sepals) as in Prangos; with winged secondary ridges (alternating with the carinal 
and sutural lines of the sepals) as in Laserpitium; with plaited-toothed ridges as in Astrantia ; with bristly primary 
and prickly secondary ridges as in Carrot ( Daucus ) : pericarp thin, often with longitudinal oil-canals (yittce) as in 
Cow Parsnip. 
Seed solitary in each mericarp, albuminous. 
USES, &c.—While very many of the Umbelliferce are acrid and poisonous, some of them virulently so, as 
Hemlock ( Conium macidatum\ Cowbane ( Cicuta virosa) and Dropwort ( (Enanthe crocata ) which are all British 
species, others, especially under cultivation in dry soil or by blanching, lose their acridity and become valuable 
esculents, as Celery (Apium gravcolens ), Carrot ( Daucus Carota), Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa). The fruit is often 
aromatic and stimulant, serving as a condiment or spice, as Caraways ( Garum Garni), Corianders ( Coriandrum 
sativum) Anise (. Anisum ), Cumin ( Guminum ). A few species of Western and Central Asia afford important gum- 
resins, as Ammoniacum (Dorema ammoniacum), Asafoetida (Narthex asafcetidcv and Scorodosma fcetidum), Galbanum 
(Ferula gcdbaniflucv), and Sagapenum of unknown origin. To this Order belong also Parsley ( Petroselinum 
sativum ) Fennel (Fceniculum vidgare), Samphire ( Grithmum maritimum), Archangel ( Angelica archangelica ), 
Sweet Cicely ( Myrrhis odorata), and several other species used as esculents or condiments. 
A few tall species of Heracleum and Ferula are occasionally grown on lawns for the sake of their striking 
foliage and picturesque habit, and Astrantia with conspicuous and elegantly veined involucral bracts in gardens. 
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