Smyrnium. L. 5. 2.
/S. aureum. L. Meadow Parsnip. Cow Parsnip. Alexanders.
This plant has suffered repeated change of name.
It is about 2 feet high, smooth, branching ; umbel compound,
bearing orange-yellow flowers; leaf-stalk divides into 3 parts, and
then into 3 leaflets. Grows on alluvial and upland meadows
over the western part of the State, abundant on Connecticut
River and in the eastern part of the State. Latterly it has attracted
some attention for its medicinal properties. Dr. Partridge,
Stockbridge.
Smyrnium is from the Greek for myrrh, as the juice smells
like this substance. Loudon.
U raspermum. Nutt. 5.. 2.
V. Claytoni. Nutt. Sweet Cicely. The sweet, spicy
flavor of the root, like anise seed, has made this plant an
object of search with the young. Stem about 2 feet high,
smooth, with ternate leaves ; flowers small and white, in June ;
root spindle-form, somewhat fleshy, often branching; inhabits
borders of woods, and by fences of meadows.
U. hirsutum. Big. Hairy Uraspermum. With the preceding
often grows this plant, and much resembles it, but is
rough and hairy, and of a whitish cast, and its leaves are more
deeply cut, and somewhat hairy ; the root has none of the pleasant
sweetness of the preceding, but has a strong, rank taste. It
was rightly formed into a distinct species by Dr. Bigelow.
Found in the western part of State, as well as about Boston.
A pium. L. 5. 2.
A. graveolens. L. Celery. The common vegetable of our
gardens. Introduced from Europe, and blanched by being nearly
covered with earth as it grows, by which process it becomes
juicy, sweet, crisp, and fine-flavored. The name Apium is said
to be from the Celtic, water, from the wet places of the species.
Even this one is coarse, rough, and poisonous in its wild state.
ORDER 3. RANUNCULACEJE. C rowfoot T r ib e .
Calyx many-leafed, inferior or below the germ, leaflets or
sepals 3 — 6 ; polypetalous, 5 —15 petals in rows, also inferior
or hypogynous ; stamens indefinite, many hypogynous ; pistils
many, one to each ovarium, forming a many-celled pistil, or
several small and distinct carpels or little seed-vessels ; fruit various,
generally herbaceous ; leaves alternate or opposite ; various
inflorescence.
This is an extensive order of plants, but most numerous in
Europe, and next in North America. They belong to a climate
damp and cold. Lind. A considerable number is found in
this Commonwealth.
The properties of this order render the plants generally to be
suspected, as they are often caustic,'acrid, or poisonous ; sometimes
tonic, bitter, or antispasmodic. The medicinal characters
of the order are very diverse.
A ct.2ea. L. 12. 1.
A. rubra. W. Baneberry. Stem 2 feet high, glabrous,
round and glaucous, with leaves several times ternate ; flowers
white in a short raceme, bearing red and shining berries, whose
long pedicels are far smaller than the common peduncle ; flowers
in May, and grows in damp woods.
A. alba. Big. White Baneberry. Stem and leaves differ
little from the preceding, but the raceme is less round, and longer ;
berries clear white, tipped with red, and their pedicels equal in
diameter to the common peduncle ; grows in the same places as
the other, and flowers at the same time. Astringent.
A. racemosa. L. Cohosh. Black Snakeroot. Stem 3 - 5
feet high, smooth, with decompound, ternate leaves, and ovate-
oblong, dentate leaflets; racemes of white flowers, 6 - 1 0 inches
long, and somewhat paniculate ; odor strong and fetid ; flowers
in July. Strong medicinal properties ; cultivated in the gardens
of the Shakers.