Calyx-teeth obsolete. Fruit ovate, somewhat flattened at the sides, glabrous, with prominent wavy ribs; oil-tubes none, but a layer of secreting cells next the seed, whose face is deeply and narrowly concave.—Poisonous biennial, with spotted stems, large decompound leaves with lanceolate pinnatifid leaflets, involucre and involucels of narrow bracts, and white flowers. (Κώνειον, the Greek name of the Hemlock, by which criminals and philosophers were put to death at Athens.)
C. maculàtum, L. A large branching European herb, in waste places, N. Eng. to Penn., and west to Iowa and Minn.
31. CHÆROPHÝLLUM, L.
Calyx-teeth obsolete. Fruit narrowly oblong to linear, notched at base, with short beak or none, and equal ribs; oil-tubes solitary in the intervals, seed-face more or less deeply grooved.—Moist ground annuals, with ternately decompound leaves, pinnatifid leaflets with oblong obtuse lobes, mostly no involucre, involucels of many bractlets, and white flowers. (Name from χαίρω, to gladden, and φύλλον, a leaf, alluding to the agreeable odor of the foliage.)
1. C. procúmbens, Crantz. More or less hairy; stems slender, spreading (6–18´ high); umbels few-rayed; fruit narrowly oblong (2½–3½´´ long), glabrous, contracted but not tapering at the summit, the intervals broader than the ribs.—N. Y. to N. C., west to Mich., Iowa, Ark., and Miss.
Var. Shórtii, Torr. & Gray, has more broadly oblong to ovate (often somewhat pubescent) fruit, not at all contracted at the summit.—Ky. to Ark. and La.
32. OSMORRHÌZA, Raf. Sweet Cicely.
Calyx-teeth obsolete. Fruit linear to linear-oblong, with prominent caudate attenuation at base, very bristly, with equal ribs; oil-tubes obsolete; seed-face concave.—Glabrous to hirsute perennials (1–3° high) from thick aromatic roots, with ternately compound leaves, ovate variously toothed leaflets, few-leaved involucres and involucels, and white flowers in few-rayed and few-fruited umbels. (Name from ὀσμή, a scent, and ῥίζα, a root.)
1. O. brevístylis, DC. Rather stout, villous-pubescent; leaves 2–3-ternate; leaflets 2–3´ long, acuminate; fruit (not including the caudate attenuation) 6´´ long; stylopodium and style ½´´ long.—From N. Scotia westward through the Northern States, and in the mountains to N. C. May, June.
2. O. longístylis, DC. Glabrous or slightly pubescent; like the last, but with the style 1´´ long or more, and the seed-face more deeply and broadly concave.—N. Scotia to Va., and west to Tenn., E. Kan., and Dak.