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L I G U S T I C U M cornubienfe,
Cornijh IjOvage.
P ENT AND RIA Digynia,
Gen. Char, lnvol. general and partial. Fruit oblong,
with 3 ribs on each fide. Corolla uniform.
Petals rolled in, entire. Cal. of 5 teeth.
Spec. Char. Radical leaves twice compound, cut;
ftem leaves ternate, lanceolate, entire. Furrows,
of the feeds obfolete.
Syn. Liguflicum cornubienfe. Linn. Sp. PI. 359.
Sm. ~lc. pitii. t. 11. FI. Brit. 310. Hudf. 1 18.
With. 297. Hull..62.
Smyrnium tenuifolium noftras. Bill, in Rail Syn.
209. t. 8.
I t is remarkable that this plant has never been found in any
part of the world except Cornwall, where a Mr. Steevens dif-
covered it early in the prefent century. From that time till
about ten years ago it was fuppofed to be loft, or that fome-
thing had beenmiftaken for it; but Mr. Pennington fortunately
found it again about Bodmin, where Mr. D. Turner and Mr.
Sowerby gathered this wild fpecimen. It is perennial, flowering
in July, and grows in bufhy fields, owing its prefervatlon
from cattle, who, according to Dr. Withering’ s obfervation,
are very fond of it, to the furrounding thorns and briars.
Root tapering, difcbarging a yellow refinous juice. Stem
about 2 feet high, erefit, branched, round, ftriated, roughifh,
not very leafy, purple at the bafe. Leaves deep green, the
radical "ones on foot-ftalks, twice or thrice ternate, broader
than they are long, their leaflets wedge-fhaped and cut, rough
only on the nerves and margin; thofe on the ftem (which
Linnaeus, miftaking Dillenius’s figure, took for the loweft radical
leaves) confift of three lanceolate entire leaflets ; and the
uppermofi of all are Ample. Umbels of many rays, fmooth.
Involucrum of about S.fhortifli linear leaves ; the partial ones
being like it in form, but fmaller. Flowers white, uniform,
and nearly regular; the {harp points of their petals rolled in.
Fruit ovato-oblong, ftriated on each fide, the ribs not very
prominent. Seeds ovate, black.