Flora Medica

PTYCHOTIS.77. P. involucrata, aneeson of Northern India, chanoo andraahooni of Bengal, used by Europeans in India as a substitutefor parsley. Royle.SISON.Calyx obsolete. Petals roundish, curved, deeply emarginate,with an inflexed segment. Styles very short, quickly disappearing.Fruit ovate, compressed at the side. Half-fruits with5 filiform equal ridges, of which the laterals form the border.Vitta? short, clavate, one in each channel. An herbaceousplant, with a panicled racemose habit. Leaves pinnated ; segmentsof the lower ones somewhat lobed toothed and cut, ofthe upper linear multifid. Each involucre few-leaved. Rays ofthe umbel 4, long, unequal, of the umbellets 4-5, short.78. S. Amomum Linn. sp. pi 362. Eng.Bot. t. 954.Chalky fields through most parts of Europe. (Honewort.)Stem about 3 feet high, with rigid wiry branches. Leaves dark-greenwith ovate, deeply cut, serrated segments, the upper narrower, multifid.The fruit is pungent and aromatic, but has a nauseous smell of bugswhen fresh. It formed the Semen Amomi of the old apothecaries.CARUM.Calyx obsolete. Petals regular, obovate, emarginate, with aninflexed lobe. Disk depressed. Styles bent down. Fruit contractedat the side, ovate or oblong. Half-fruits with 5 filiformequal ridges, of which the lateral form the border. Vittae in thechannels solitary, on the commissure 2. Smooth and usuallyperennial herbs. Root tuberous, eatable. Leaves pinnated,with multifid segments. Involucre variable. Flowers white.79. C. Carui Linn. sp. 378. DC. prodr. iv. 115. Eng.Bot. t. 1503. Nees and Eberm. med. pi. t. 276. handb. iii. 21.Woodv. t. 4-5. S. and C. i. t. 59. Smith Eng.fi.ii. 87. Meadowsand pastures all over middle Europe not; really wild inGreat Britain. (Caraway.)Root tapering. Stem about 2 feet high, erect, branched, leafy, angularand furrowed. Lower leaves nearly a span long, stalked, doublypinnate, with numerous, opposite, finely cut leaflets, of which the pairsnext the midrib cross each other : those on the stem much smaller,opposite, very unequal. Umbels numerous, erect. General bracts, ifpresent, capillary, connected when mole than one by a membranousbase. Flowers numerous, white, or pale flesh-coloured ;the marginal(not central) ones only, perfect and prolific. Calyx always extremelyminute, and not constantly complete, or discernible. Pedicels small,convex, in the middle flowers nearly equal. Epigynous disk white,undulated, very distinct from the bases of the styles. Fruit narrow,bright brown, IA line long, with pale elevated filiform ridges and shiningconvex channels. Similar in action to Dill and Anise ;used in the37 D 3