Volume 3

Flora Londinensis. Or Plates and descriptions of such plants as grow wild in the environs of London: with their places of growth, and times of flowering; their several names according to Linnæus and other authors: with a particular description of each plant in Latin and English. To which are added, their several uses in medicine, agriculture, rural œconomy and other arts / By William Curtis.

William Curtis

Date:: [etc.] 1777

Credit: Flora Londinensis. Or Plates and descriptions of such plants as grow wild in the environs of London: with their places of growth, and times of flowering; their several names according to Linnæus and other authors: with a particular description of each plant in Latin and English. To which are added, their several uses in medicine, agriculture, rural œconomy and other arts / By William Curtis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

101/471 page 83

$AuTHusa crNA4PIUM. Foors Parstey, JETHUSA Linnei Gen. Pl. PENTANDRIA Dicynta, Rai Syn. Gen. 11. UMBELLIFERE Hrmnnz, | iet 1 | ZETHUSA (Cynapium) folis conformibus. Linnei Syft. Vegetab. b. 236. Flor. Suecic. b 95 JETHUSA. Haller. bif. m. 765. CICUTA minor petrofelino fimilis. Baubin, Pin. p- 150, CICUTARIA Apii folio... 7. Baubin. CICUTARIA tenuifolia Gerard. emac. 1663, ' | | Pe M ES | | CICUTA minor fivefatua Parkin/on. 933. Ran Sym. p. 215. the leffer Hemlock or Fool's Parfley. — Scoboli FL Carniol, 5. 206. Hudfon Fi. Angl. p. 107. Hill’s Britfb Herbal {mall Hemlock tab. 58. icon peffima. RADIX annua, fufiformis, alba, minimi digiti crafitudine, Da. tee ROOT annual, tapering, of a white colour, about the paucis fibris inftruéta. thickne/s of the little finger, furnifhed with few fibres. STALK from one to two feet high, upright, branched, ftriated or flightly grooved, hollow, covered with a blueifh kind of powder which eafily wipes off, towards the bottom frequently of a purple colour, but not /potted. LEAVES: the bottom leaves and thofe of the branches | fimilar, fmooth, on the upper fide of a darh green colour, underneath paler and Íhining, twice pinnated, the leaves pinnatifid and deeply cut Y in, the {mall leaves or pinnule oval and termi- : nating in a fine point. The SsmEATHs at the H bafe of the foot-ftalks fmall, fmooth and mem-« Y — ivhrulous at the edges. : FOOT-STALKS of the flowers, upright and grooved. 4 UMBEL: the univerfal umbel {preading, the inner 4 radii gradually fhorter, the inmoft very fhort; __ the partial umbel like the univerfal. i INVOLUCRUM : the univerfal InvotucruM wanting, I the gartial one placed externally, and only pendulis, fig. 1. Y furrounding one half of the umbel, compofed o£ ' ; __three very long, linear, and pendulous leaves, fig. 1. COROLLA: PEerALA quinque, alba, obcordata, in- , COROLLA: five unequal, heart-fhaped, white PETALS, zequalia, apice inflexa, exteriora majora, fig. 2. i bent in at top, the outer ones largeft, fig. 2. Y j i M : Y 4 Y Y M t CAULIS pedalis ad bipedalem, erectus, ramofus, ftriatus, fiftulofus, glaucus, verfus bafin fepe purpureus, non vero maculatus, — FOLIA radicalia et ramea conformia, levia, fuperne atro-virentia, inferne pallidiora, nitentia, dupli- cato-pinnata, pinnis pinnatifidis, profunde in- cifis, pinnulis ovato-acutis, mucronatis. Vagine ad bafin petiolorum parve, leves, marginibus membranaceis. Y Y Y 1 Y 1 4 Y 4 Y Y Y Y Y 4 Y 4 PETIOLI ere&i, fulcati. UN UMBELLA umverflis patens, radiis interioribus per gradus brevioribus, intimis breviffimis; partialis univerfali fimilis. INVOLUCRUM univerfale nullum, partiale dimidiatum, extus pofitum, folvolis tribus longifimis linearibus STAMINA: FirAMENTA quinque, alba, longitudine $ STAMINA: five white FzLAMENTS the length of the corolle, inflexa: ANT HERJE albz,nonnunguam Corolla, bending in: ANTHER#& white, fome- rubelle, fig. 3. times reddifh, fic. 4. - PISTILLUM : Germen inferum, glandulà virefcente $ PISTILLUM : GEzgMEN placed below the corolla, and coronatum : STYLI duo, primum erecti, dein crowned by a glandular fubftance of a greenifh deflexi: Stigmata obtufa, fiz. 4. colour: two STvLEs firft upright, afterwards | bending downward : Strcmara blunt, p wr SEED-VESSEL wanting: the Frurr or unripe feed of an oval roundifh fhape, ftriated, and dividing into two parts, fig. c. SEEDS two, of a pale brown colour, convex and deeply {triated on one fide, flat on the other, and marked with a figure of an oval pointed Íhape, Jig. 6. ONE of the principal advantages refulting to mankind from Botany, is the rightly afcertaining thofe plants Which are ufed for food, from thofe which are known to be poifonous. It not unfrequently happens that both thefe kinds ef Herbs grow in the fame foil, nay often in the fame bed together, and fo fimilar are they in their gene- ral appearance, that the indifcriminating eye of the common obferver readily miftakes the one for the other, and hence difeafes fatal in their confequences fometimes enfue. To point out then the moft obvious diftin&ions between fuch kinds of plants, is not only our bufinefs but our duty. ] id The Fool’s Parfley feems generally allowed to be a plant which poffeffes poifonous qualities, — Baron Hatier has taken a great deal of pains to collect what has been faid concerning it, and quotes many authorities to fhew that this plant (on being eaten) has been produétive of the moft violent fymptoms, fuch as. anxiety, hickcough, and a delirium even for the {pace of three months, ftupor, vomiting, convulfions and death: He fufpe&s however that the common Hemlock may fometimes have had a fhare in producing thefe {ymptoms, as he finds in authors that the Fool’s Parfley had been ufed by a whole family without any bad effect, although he ima- gines this might be owing to the fmallnefs of the quantity eaten. As a corroborating proof of its deleterious quality, ANN XUS aflerts that itproves fatal to geefe if they happen to eat it. gee Altho’ it feems rather doubtful. whether it be fo poifonous to mankind as 1$ reprefented, yet it will pethaps be moft prudent to confider it as fuch, until future experiments fhall determine its effets with more certainty, | The plants to which this bears the greateft refemblance, are common Garden Parfley and common Hemlock, Conium macu- latum + this fimilarity has been obferved by moft Botanic Writers, fome of whom have called it a kind of Hemlock, Others a kind of Parfley ; it differs however confiderably from both thefe Genera. The colour of its leaves alone, Is nearly fufficient to diftinguith it from Parfley ; thofe of common Partley are of a yellowifh green colour, thofe of Fools Parfley of a very dark green, and much more finely divided ; the leaves of Parfley when bruifed have a Strong but not difagreeable Jmell, thoíe of Fool’s Parfley have very little fmell in them. — 'Thefe marks if attended to are futficient to diftinguith the /eaves of thefe two plants, and in the ftate of leaves they are moft liable to be taken for one another, 4$ they grow together in Gardens, Where much Parfley is ufed, the Miftrefs of the houfe therefore would do Well to examine the Herbs previous totheir being made ufe of; but the beft precaution will be always to fow that variety called curled Parfley, which cannot be miftaken for this or any other plant. It is diftinguithed from Hemlock by being in every refpe& {maller, and not having that {trong difagreeable fel] Which charaéterizes the leaves of that plant; the ftalk likewife is not {potted as in the Hemlock; and laftly it is diftinguifhed from all our umbeliiferous plants by the three long, narrow, pendulous leaves which compote its partial LInvolucrum, and which are placed at the bottom of each of the fmall Umbels. | | | lt grows very common in Gardens, and all kinds of cultivated ground, and flowers in July and Auguft, PERICARPIUM nullum: Frucrus ovato-fubrotundus, firiatus, bipartibilis, fig. 5. SEMINA duo, pallide fufca, hinc convexa, profunde ftriata, hinc plana, figurà ovato-acutà notata,$

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