Flora Medica

APIACEJE OR UMBELLIFERJE.mistaking it for parsnips, ground nuts, or similar roots. It has beenused in lepra and ichthyosis ; and Dr. Hope found an infusion of theleaves useful in promoting the menstrual discharge.86. CE. Phellandrium Spreng. prodr. 37. DC. prodr.iv. 138.Eng. Sot. t. 684-. Nees and Eberm.pl. med. t. 287. handb. iii. 22.S. and C. i. t. 4O. Smith ii.Eng. fl. 72. Phellandrium aquaticumLinn. sp. 366. Ditches and wet places all over Europe, theCrimea, and Siberia. (Water Dropvvort.)Root spindle-shaped, thick, with many whorled fibres. Stem 2 or3 feet high, hollow, strict, furrowed, half immersed in the water,very bushy, with numerous spreading, leafy branches. Leaves stalked,spreading, repeatedly pinnate, cut, with innumerable fine, expanded,dark-green, shining, acute segments. Umbels opposite to the leaves,on shortish stalks, about 5-rayed, without any general bracts. Partialumbels very dense, of numerous short rays, accompanied by many narrow,taper-pointed bracts. Flowers white, numerous, all fertile, theouter ones largest and most irregular ;the innermost more certainlyprolific. Styles long, filiform, spreading, capitate. Fruit ovate, rathercompressed, purplish, smooth, oblong, crowned with the minute spreadingcalyx, and rather short, permanent, slightly spreading styles ; thedorsal ridges distinct, but little elevated, the lateral ones much broaderand thicker ; all confluent below the calyx. Pedicels shorter than thefruit. Poisonous like the last, but in a less degree.N. B. This genus contains 20 species according to De Candolle ;and Fee reckons them all dangerous poisons, nothwithstanding that thefleshy tubercles of (E.pimpinelloides, and peucedanifolia have occasionallybeen eaten.JETHUSA.Calyx obsolete. Petals obovate, emarginate, with an inflexedlobe, the outer somewhat radiating. Fruit ovate globose.Half-fruits with 5 elevated thick acutely keeled ridges, the lateralsforming an edge, and rather broader than the others, surroundedby a somewhat winged keel. Channels with singlevittae ; commissure with two curved ones. Annuals. Leavesmultifid. Involucre none, or 1 -leaved; involucels with 1 to 3leaflets, all on one side, and pendulous. Flowers white.87. .rE.Cynapium Linn. sp. 367. DC. prodr. iv. 141. Eng.Bot. t. 1192. S. and C. i. t. 8. Smith Eng. fl.ii. 64-. Cultivatedground, common throughout Europe. (Fools' Parsley. JRoot tapering, whitish. Herb erect, of a dark lurid green, fetid.Stem round, striated, leafy, often purplish, a foot high. Leaves withshort sheathing footstalks, all ternate, with slender-stalked, tripartite,cut, somewhat cuneate leaflets. Umbels stalked, terminal, spreadingand flattish, distinguishable at first sight by their 3, long, narrrow, pendulous,1-sided partial bracts, and the want of general ones. Flowerspure white, rarely partially abortive. Fruit pale brown, ovate, 2 lineslong, without any remains of a calyx ; ridges thick, corky, sharp, with4-0