CENANTHE pimpinelloides.
Corky-fruited Water-Dropwort.
PENTANDRIA Digynia.
Gen. Char. Calyx of five lanceolate teeth. Petals
obcordate, with an inflexed point. Fruit ovoid-
cylindrical or subturbinate, crowned with the
long suberect styles. Carpels more or less corky,
with five blunt convex ridges. Interstices with
single vittse.
Spec. Char. Root of long fibres, bearing round or
ovoid knobs beyond their middle. Radical leaves
bipinnate, with obovate, wedge-shaped, 3-iobed
leaflets; stem-leaves pinnate, with linear acute
leaflets ; uppermost leaves simple. Radiant
petals divided to the middle. Fruit subcylin-
drical, with an enlarged corky base.
Syn, CEnanthe pimpinelloides. Linn. Sp. PI. 366.
Jacq. Aust. t. 394. Koch, Syn. FI. Germ. ed. 2.
322. Gren. et Godr. FI. Fr. v. 1. 713. Reichenb'.
Icon. FI. Germ. v. 21. 26. t. 1895. Syme, E. Bot.
ed. 3. v. 4. 125. t. dxciv. Hook. 8f Am. Br. FI.
ed. 8. 176.
J jV E N a slight attention to the roots, radical leaves, and
fruit-bearing umbels of this plant cannot, we think, fail to
establish the opinion that CE. pimpinelloides is a distinct
species from CE. Lachenalii and CE. silaifolia. Nevertheless
one of our highest botanical authorities has said that these
differences have been shown to depend upon soil and situation,
and that intermediate states show that the two, (E.pimpi-
nellifolia and CE. Lachenalii, should be considered rather as
marked varieties than as true species. We do not know by
whom the intermediate variations have been proved to exist,
and our experience leads us, in common with nearly all
modern European botanists, to believe in the constancy and