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P H E L L A N D R I U M aquaticum,
Water Hemlock.
P E N T A N D R 1'A Digynia.
G en. C har. General Involucrum none. Florets all
fertile, the central ones fmalleft. Fruit ovate,
fmooth, crowned with the calyx and ftyles.
Spec. Char. Segments of the leaves divaricated.
Syn. Phellandrium aquaticum. Linn. Sp. PI. 366.
Sm. FI. Brit. 3 2 1 . Hudf. 122. With. 303. Hull.
63. Relh. 1 19 . Sibtb. 99. A llo t. 65. Woodv.
Suppl. t. 166.
P. vel Cicutaria aquatica quorundam. Ran Syn.
a i 5* '
F REQUENT in running {beams as well as ftagnant ditches,
flowering in June and July.
Root fpindle-ftiaped, thick, with whorled fibres. Ste'm 2 or
3 feet high, thick, round, hollow, furrowed, much branched
and very bulhy, the branches being greatly divaricated and
moftly horizontal. Leaves fpreading, thrice pinnate, cut, all
‘ the fegments divaricated, fmooth, of a dark Alining green.
Umbels pppofite to the leaves, fpreading, many-rayed; the
partial ones very denfe. Partial involucra of many narrow
leaves. Flowers white, the outermoft larger and irregular.
Calyx of 3 fpreading leaves. Fruit ovate, a little comprefled,
fmooth, crowned with the eredl calyx and ftyles.
This genus is next akin to Oenanthe, differing from it in
the want of a general involucrum, in having all the flowers for
the moft part fertile, and in the want of. a fpongy coat to the
feeds.
The fibres of the ftem diffe&ed by the a&ion of water in the
courfe of the winter, and then bleached in the air, form an
elegant tube of net-work, often found on the banks of marfh-
land "ditches.
In running: ftreams, as Dillenius obferves, Rail Syn. 216,
the leaves are lengthened out, and the flowers are rarely produced.
Mr. Crowe has obferved a remarkable variety, if not
a fpecies, which grows upon dry land.