S 1 S O N fegetum.
Corn Honewort.
P E N T A N D R I A Digynia.
G en. Char. Fruit oval, flriated. Involucra both general
and partial, each of about four leaves.
Spec. C har. Leaves pinnated; leaflets roundilh.
Umbels drooping.'
S yn. Sifon fegetum. Linn. Sp. Pi. 362. Hudf. FI.
An. 120. With. Bot.Arr. 294. Relb. Cant. 117.
Sibth. Oxon. 97.
Sium arvenfe five fegetum. Raii Syn. 21 x.
Selinum Sii foliis. Ger. em. 1018.
C o m m u n i c a t e d from fields near Kelmarlh, in Nor.
thamptonlhire, by ’William Hanbury, Efq. It has been obferved
in feveral parts of England in a chalk or clay foil, but not very
frequently. Meflrs. Forfters find it at Walthamftow. It flowers
in July, and is annual in general, though often biennial, as we
find remarked by that accurate obferver Mr. John Goodyer, in
Gerarde’s Herbal. His whole account of this herb, with the
origin of its name Honewort (from its curing a fwelling in the
cheek, called a Hone), with all the hiftory of “ Miftris Urfula
Leigh,” and ** Miftris Charitie Leigh,” is a model of accurate
inquiry and precife information.
Root fmall, but ftrong. Stems feveral, fpreading in every
diredlion, flender and rufh-like, but branched and furnilhed
with feveral alternate pinnated leaves. The radical leaves are
the largeft, confifting of from feven to fifteen neat little roundilh
leaflets, lharply ferrated, and fcarcely lobed. The general umbels
are of very few and unequal rays; the partial ones are
drooping, and, as Goodyer fays, ¥ uneven or unorderly,” their
flower-ftalks being very various in length. Flowers very fmall.
Petals regular, incurved. Antherse purple. ■ Fruit ftriated,
pungent and aromatic, as is the whole plant in fome degree.