The stalk of the Goutweed is hollow. It is very glossy and smooth, and has many ridges.

The leaves are shaped rather like rose leaves. They are pale green and are softer than rose leaves, and there is only one other plant with umbrella spokes whose leaves are at all similar. They are quite different from the fern-like leaves of so many other umbrella plants.

Notice the broad sheath where each leaf joins the main stem.

2. WILD ANGELICA

This bushy plant is common all over Britain. It flowers in summer and autumn, and it likes to grow in damp places, especially beside streams.

At first you might mistake the Wild Angelica for Goutweed, as the leaves are very similar, but there are several differences. The Wild Angelica flowers are small and white, sometimes they are tinged with lilac, and they grow in cl.u.s.ters at the end of green spokes like the ribs of an umbrella.

At the back of each cl.u.s.ter of flowers you will find three tiny pointed green leaves, and at the top of the stem where all the spokes join there are other three. This is the first difference.

The seeds of the Wild Angelica are quite a different shape from the Goutweed seeds. They are much broader, with rough ridges running up them, and they have no bristles standing up at the top. This is the second point to notice.

The Wild Angelica stalk is beautifully tinged with rich purple, not in spots as in the Common Hemlock, but all over; and it is smooth, with fine lines running up and down. This is a third point.

And lastly, the leaves grow from the end of a curious large round sheath. This sheath is pale green and is very smooth and silky. It clasps the stem, which seems to grow right through the middle of it.

3. UPRIGHT HEDGE PARSLEY

In summer you will find the Upright Hedge Parsley all over the country, on hedge-banks and in waste places.

The tiny flowers are white, and are very often tinged with pink. They grow in cl.u.s.ters on green spokes which rise from the end of the main stem like the ribs of an umbrella. These green spokes are rough and hairy, and you will recognise this plant by these rough spokes.

There is a ring of narrow pointed green leaves at the top of the main stem where all the spokes join, and there are also little leaves at the back of each cl.u.s.ter of flowers.

In the Upright Hedge Parsley the seed-vessels are different from those of any of the other umbrella plants in this book. They are a dark pinky purple in colour, and are covered with short, thick bristles. At the top of each seed-vessel there are two long, thin bristles which bend over, very much like those in the Goutweed. You will always be able to recognise this plant by these bristly, purple seed-vessels.

The leaves of the Upright Hedge Parsley are dark green and hairy. They are like ferns, and have many divisions, which are cut into teeth all round the edge.

4. HEMLOCK WATER DROPWORT

This is one of the most poisonous plants that grow in Britain. A great many accidents have been caused by cattle and human beings eating its leaves and roots.

The Hemlock Water Dropwort is common all over the country, and it is in flower most of the summer.

The flowers grow in large cl.u.s.ters at the end of green spokes. They are white, and they have each five stamens with large pink heads, so that from a distance the cl.u.s.ters look pink. There are little pointed green leaves at the back of the flower cl.u.s.ters as well as where the spokes join the main stem.

The seed-vessels of the Hemlock Water Dropwort are a light brown colour, with slight ridges, and they have two little points standing up at the top. You will know this plant by these seed-vessels and by the curious roots.

The stems are tall and straight, with grooves running from top to bottom. They are hollow, and so tough that they are very difficult to gather. The roots are shaped like the fingers of your hand, long, fleshy fibres that grow very thick. These poisonous roots have sometimes been mistaken for Water Parsnips. The leaves are dark green and glossy. They are not fern-like, as are those of so many of the other umbrella plants.

PLATE XIX: 1. COW PARSNIP 2. WILD CHERVIL 3. SEA CARROT 4. COMMON HEMLOCK

1. COW PARSNIP

The Cow Parsnip is a common plant which you find all over Britain in summer and autumn.

It is one of a large family of plants which have from eight to twenty stiff green spokes at the end of the stem. These spokes are all about the same length, and they stand up like the ribs of an umbrella. In late autumn, when the flowers are withered, the brown ribs still remain on the plant.

Each green rib carries a flat bouquet of flowers. In the centre of this bouquet there are green buds, and all round the buds is a ring of small white flowers.

The stem of the plant is rough and hairy, and it is deeply grooved. The inside is hollow, and when the winter comes, small insects creep into these hollow stems for shelter.

The Cow Parsnip has large, rough leaves. These are covered with coa.r.s.e hairs, and they always look dusty and shabby. You will notice curious green k.n.o.bs which appear close to the stem.

These k.n.o.bs are covered with a thin green sheath, and the flower-bud, with all its spokes still closed, is inside.

This bud grows bigger and bigger until it bursts the sheath. Then the flowers unfold, leaving the green covering still growing from the stem, with a curious green leaf coming out of the end.

2. WILD CHERVIL

This is a slender plant which is very common on hedge-banks and in open woods. It blooms all spring and summer.

The flowers are white, and they grow in cl.u.s.ters at the end of green spokes which look like the ribs of an umbrella. Notice that there is no ring of feathery green leaves where these spokes join the main stem.

Before the flowers open, these green spokes bend downward.

There is a ring of tiny pointed leaves at the back of each cl.u.s.ter of flowers. These tiny leaves are tinged with pink, and when the flowers are fully opened, they fold back close to the main stem.

In the centre of each flower there is a long, thin seed-vessel. After all the white petals have fallen off, these seed-vessels grow into fat green beaks, each on a short stalk, and with two green points at the end.

The Wild Chervil is easily recognised by these cl.u.s.ters of green beak-like seed-vessels.

The leaves of the Wild Chervil are pale green, with fern-like divisions.

Wherever they join the main stem there is a broad sheath.

The Wild Chervil has a stem which is deeply grooved. This stem is not spotted, but you will find another Chervil, the Rough Chervil, which is very like this one.

In it the stem is covered with purple blotches, and the leaves are blunter and less fern-like.

3. SEA CARROT

The Sea Carrot is common in many parts of Britain, where it blooms on the seash.o.r.e all summer and autumn.

It belongs to the large family of plants that carry their flowers on green spokes like the ribs of an umbrella, and as these flowers are very confusing, you must notice the differences carefully.

The flowers of the Sea Carrot are usually small and white, though sometimes they have a pinky tinge. They grow in ma.s.ses at the end of the green spokes. Before the flowers are fully out, these spokes stand straight up in the air, very close together, with the cl.u.s.ters of flower-buds all turned inwards.

But when the buds begin to open, these green spokes fold down so as to give the flowers room to look up towards the sun.

You will always know the Sea Carrot by the curious way the spokes stand close together until the flowers open.

At the top of the main stem, where all the spokes join, there is a circle of feathery green leaves. These feathery leaves each end in three points, and they have a special name which you will learn some day.