ARTEDIA

ARTEDIA, a genus of the digynia order, belonging to the pentandria class of plants, for which there is no English name.

Species. 1. The squamata, with squamose seeds, is a native of the east; Rewwolf found it growing on mount Libanus. It is an annual plant, whose stalks rise about two feet high, sending out a few side-branches, which are garnished with narrow compound leaves

resembling those of dill; the extremity of the stalk is terminated by a large umbel of white flowers, composed of five unequal petals. These are succeeded by roundish compressed fruit, each having two seeds, whose borders are scaly. 2. The aculeata, with prickly seeds, grows upon the African shore on the Mediterranean, as also in Spain. This is also an annual plant, with an upright stalk near three feet high, and puts out many shoots. The leaves are hairy, and greatly resemble those of the common carrot: the stalks are terminated by umbels of large white flowers shaped like those of the former, and are succeeded by a prickly fruit containing two seeds.

Both these plants decay as soon as they perfect their seeds, and often before they are ripe in Britain: for unless the seeds are sown in autumn, and the plants come up before winter, they rarely perfect their seeds here. The seeds should be sown on a warm border where the plants are to remain, for they will not bear transplanting.