CHAP. 58.—SPONDYLIUM.

The difference between this kind of giant-fennel and that known as spondylium,[1] consists only in the leaf, which is smaller, and divided like that of the plane tree. It grows in shady places only. The seed bears the same name as the plant, and has a strong resemblance to that of hart-wort: it is only employed in medicine.

1. The umbelliferous plant known as the Heracleum spondylium of Linnæus. It is commonly found in France, where it is called Berce-branc- ursine. It received its name from the resemblance of its smell to that of the sphondyle, a fetid kind of wood-beetle.