UMBELLIFEROUS PLANTS. / UMBELS PROVIDED WITH STRIATED SEEDS. / The Second Genus of Umbels.

CHAPTER II.

The second subordinate Genus of Umbels consists of those that produce striated grooved or fluted seeds, and these constitute the third part of this Section (namely the Umbels). We shall divide these into four parts according to the fourfold placement and arrangement of their leaves.

Umbels endowed with striated seeds either have giant-fennel-like or fennel-like leaves original: "ferulaceis, fœniculaceisve", meaning the leaves are divided and dissected as finely as possible in the manner of giant fennel or fennel. Or, in the second place, they have leaves arranged in lobes, pinnately feather-like, or in pairs; that is, many leaf-lobes are placed on either side of the middle nerve or rachis the main stem of a compound leaf, either directly opposite or alternately, with a single lobe closing the tip. Or, in the third place, they hold a middle ground, being neither fennel-like nor lobed, but divided manifold in an intermediate fashion. In the fourth and last place, those Umbels endowed with striated seeds whose leaves possess some unique characteristic will be added. In the first place, we encounter the Umbels enriched with striated seeds and provided with fennel-like leaves; and these are of two kinds: those with thicker and longer seeds, or those with shorter and smaller striated seeds. We shall speak of the former now, and of the latter further below.

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UMBELS WITH FENNEL-LIKE LEAVES

Provided with larger striated seeds.

                { Common ☉
Fennel {
                { Sweet ☉
Cumin ♀
Spignel original: "Meum athamanticum," also known as Baldmoney ☉

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Explanation of the preceding Table.

Fennel is the first Umbelliferous plant of those provided with larger striated seeds and fennel-like leaves. Fennel is so well known to everyone that it is not worth the effort to dwell on many of the characteristics it shares in common with other giant-fennel-like plants. It is more easily known by its scent and taste than by description compared to others of its class. It is either the "common" kind, whose scent is milder; or the "sweet" kind, which resembles the common in all its parts, except for the sweeter taste alone and a more intense fragrant scent, found in both the leaves and the seeds.

Place and time.

The common kind grows on the maritime cliffs of Brittany original: "Armoricis" and other warm and stony places; the sweet kind grows in Italy and warm regions. When brought to northern regions and propagated by cultivation from repeated sowing, it degenerates into the common kind. Both flower in summer and produce seed toward the end of autumn.

Names.

The first is the "common" kind of Gerard John Gerard, author of the 1597 'Herball'; the "common" of Gessner’s 'Gardens'; and the "garden" kind of Cesalpino. This differs from the wild kind or the 'Marathrum' the ancient Greek name for fennel of the ancients only by sowing, just as many other wild plants, when transferred to gardens through artifice original: "mangonio," referring to the 'improving' or 'polishing' of plants through horticulture and cultivation, become garden varieties. The second is the "sweet" kind of Mattioli, Lobel (in his 'Adversaria'), Gerard, and Dodoens. We also have the sweet Fennel of the Azores.