Umbel

“ The ovary is inferior, and there is a nectar-secreting disc between the styles and the stamens. Of the three families, the umbel-worts or Umbelliferæ is the commonest. The flowers are much alike in all (Fig. 110, A, B) , and nearly all have large, compound leaves with broad, sheathing bases. The stems are generally hollow. So great is the uniformity of the flowers and plant, that the fruit (Fig. 110, D) is generally necessary before the plant can be certainly recognized. ”

“ Culm nearly terete (2–5° high) ; leaves narrowly linear, long, rigid, those of the involucre 3–5, longer than the umbel, the rays at length drooping; spikelets exceedingly numerous, ovate, clustered, or the lateral pedicelled, woolly at maturity (11⁄2–3 ́ ́ long) ; the rust-colored bristles much longer than the pointless scales; achene short-pointed. (Scirpus Eriophorum, Michx.) —Wet meadows and swamps, Newf. to Fla., west to Minn. and Iowa. Exceedingly variable in the character and size of the umbel, the typical form having the spikelets mostly clustered in small heads.—Var. ”

“ Cross-pollination is rendered necessary by the flowers being generally markedly proterandrous; the stamens throughout the umbel have generally shed their pollen before the stigmas have begun to be functional even in the outer flowers. ”

“ The umbels are solitary, axillary, and simple. Flowers scarcely one-third of the zize of the robusta, and their covers are neither broader than the calyx, nor longer; neither are they contracted in their middle. ”

“ The other is half flower and half umbellule: being composed of three petals, three stamens, and five flower-buds growing where the other petals and stamens should grow. 4. Outside of these umbellules comes one of the mixed clusters. Its five central flowers are normal. Surrounding these are several flowers transformed in different degrees: one having a stamen partially changed into a flower bud. And then, at the periphery of this mixed cluster, come three complete umbellules and an incomplete one in which some petals and stamens of the original flower remain. ”

“ Inflorescence forming a contracted spike-like panicle 2–5 in. long. Male umbels on slender peduncles; female on much shorter ones, crowded in the axils of the bracts. Bracts with long narrow sheaths and 3 narrow spinous leaflets. Carpels linear-oblong, 3–5-winged. ”

“ The eggs are said to be from eight to twelve in number, never more; they are larger and more spherical than those of the common umbellus, and are of a darker shade. The female sits upon them about twenty days, and as soon as the young can extricate themselves from the shell the mother leads them away, the male having previously left her. ”

“ B. umbellus. Rump with cordate light spots; sides with transverse dark spots. Tail with two gray bands (one terminal) , with a broad blackish zone between them. Cervical tufts glossy black or dark brown, with a semi-metallic steel-blue or green border.
Prevailing color bright ochraceous-rufous; tail always rufous in the Middle and Southern States, occasionally gray on the Alleghany Mountains, and in New England States; usually gray in Eastern British America. Hab. Eastern Province of North America ... var. umbellus.
Prevailing color bluish-ashy; tail always pale ash. Hab. ”

“ Whether the femininity of the umbrella inspired confidence, or the desperate state of my feelings urged me on, I cannot say, but getting on the edge of my nest, putting my foot in the strong oak curved handle for a stirrup, and grasping the staff firmly, I slipped from the vines, and floated slowly down, the old umbrella popping and straining as if it was going to fly to pieces. ”

“ But he forgot his umbrella, which he had placed up in the rack. A dreadful umbrella, which had been a martyrdom to me ever since we had left England. An umbrella that was only fit for a poet or a Mrs. Gamp; huge, bulky, tied round like a lettuce, with half a yard of stick above the material, and a crane's head for a handle with a perpetual grin upon it that was terribly irritating. ”

“ Umber. A massive mineral pigment used by painters as a brown colour, and to make varnish dry quickly. Raw umber is of an olive brown, which becomes much redder when burnt. (See Ochres.)
Umbilici, R. (lit. navels) , were the ornamental bosses which projected from each end of the staff round which a volume of papyrus or parchment (liber) was rolled. They were also called cornua, and geminæ frontes. (See Liber.)
Umbo (Gr. ὀμφαλός) . (1) The boss of a shield, often sharp and projecting so as to form an offensive weapon in itself. ”

“ I would take Dr. Farmer's 'umber'd,' which I had proposed before I ever heard of its having been already offered by him: but I do not adopt his interpretation of the word, which I think is not derived from umbra, a shade, but from umber, a dingy yellow-brown soil, which most commonly forms the mass of the sludge on the sea shore, and on the banks of tide-rivers at low water. One other possible interpretation of this sentence has occurred to me, just barely worth mentioning;—that the 'twinn'd stones' are the augrim stones upon the number'd beech, that is, the astronomical tables of beech-wood. ”

“ For an umbrella they entertain profound regard, probably looking upon it as the most luxurious superfluity a person can possess, and therefore a badge of great wealth. I used to see an old squaw, whose sullied skin and coarse, tanned locks, told that she had braved sun and storm, without a doubt or care, for sixty years at the least, sitting gravely at the door of her lodge, with an old green umbrella over her head, happy for hours together in the dignified shade. ”

“ Why so much unmerited ridicule should be poured upon the head (or handle) of the devoted Umbrella, it is hard to say. What is there comic in an Umbrella? Plain, useful, and unpretending, if any of man's inventions ever deserved sincere regard, the Umbrella is, we maintain, that invention. Only a few years back those who carried Umbrellas were held to be legitimate butts. They were old fogies, careful of their health, and so on; but now-a-days we are wiser. Everybody has his Umbrella. It is both cheaper and better made than of old; who, then, so poor he cannot afford one? ”

“ We have learned further that the umbrella carried by DANIEL was a blue
cotton umbrella—undoubtedly the most primitive type of the umbrella.
It is one of this class that your country friend brings down with him, that
darkeneth the heavens as with a canopy and maketh you ashamed of your
company. It is such an umbrella as this that is to be found or might have
been found, in ancient days, in every old farm-house—one that covered the
whole household when it went to church, occupying as much room when closed
as would the tent of an Arab. ”

“ I am the umbrella that goes to pieces when the wind blows and then puts itself together again when the wind goes down. I am the first umbrella, the last umbrella, the one and only umbrella all other umbrellas are named after, first, last and always. ”

“ An umbrella, sir, is a humbug! A relic of the Dark Ages! I've done away with the use of umbrellas entirely, by means of this invention--this little tube, which can be carried in one's pocket!" He held up a small instrument that looked like a tin whistle. "How curious!" said John. "Isn't it? You see, within this tube is stored a Power of Repulsion that overcomes the Attraction of Gravitation, and sends the rain-drops flying upward again. ”

“ The head of each rib fits into a notch formed in the ring of wood, which is fastened on to the top of the stick, there being a separate, notch for each rib. The slide is of wood, and has forty-two notches, namely, one for each stretcher, which like the ribs, is formed of wood. The covering of the Umbrellas exhibited is of oiled paper coarsely painted."
But the use of the Umbrella travelled westward, and with it the custom of regarding it as a mark of dignity. ”

“ The procession, to which the umbrellas give something of dignity if not solemnity, moves slowly along a field, each man taking a row and examining the hyacinths one by one for signs of the disease. With his umbrella he shields the sun from his head and neck, the weather usually seems to be hot on these occasions; with his tool he neatly and cleanly lifts the suspected bulb from among its fellows. ”

“ The same author is rather doubtful whether, in the picture given by him of a military chief in his chariot, the frame which an attendant holds up behind the rider is a shield or a screen, but the latter is the more probable supposition, as it has all the appearance of an Umbrella without the usual handle. In some paintings on a temple wall, an Umbrella is held over the figure of a god carried in procession, and altogether we may, perhaps, consider it decided, beyond dispute, that the Umbrella in its modern shape was used in Egypt. ”

“ The principal object of all those who have devoted their attention to the task has been to reduce the weight of the Umbrella without, at the same time, diminishing its strength. In its primitive form the ribs were formed of whalebone, which possessed very grave inconveniences ”

“ In Kersey's Dictionarium Anglo-Britannicum, 1708, it is thus noticed—
"Umbrella, or Umbrello, a kind of broad Fan or Skreen, commonly us'd by women to shelter them from Rain: also a Wooden Frame cover'd with cloth to keep off the sun from a window."
"Parasol (F.) , a small sort of canopy or umbrello, which women carry over their heads." ”

“ Strange to say, it is a fact, melancholy enough, but for all that too true, that our forefathers, scarce seventy years agone, meekly endured the pelting of the pitiless storm without that protection vouchsafed to their descendants by a kind fate and talented inventors. The fact is, the Umbrella forms one of the numerous conveniences of life which seem indispensable to the present generation, because just so long a time has passed since their introduction, that the contrivances which, in some certain degree, previously supplied their place, have passed into oblivion. ”

“ It is true that over that sandy soil a dark green cotton umbrella is a very welcome protection from the sun, and when the wind makes music in the tall pine-tops and refreshment in the air beneath them. ”

“ When wet, an Umbrella should neither be distended to dry, which will strain the ribs and covering, and prevent its ever afterwards folding up neatly, nor at once rolled and tied up, which would tend to rust the frame and rot the textile fabric; neither should it, if of silk, be carelessly thrust into an Umbrella-stand, nor allowed to rest against a wall, which would probably discolour, and certainly crease the silk injuriously. It should be shut, but not tied up, and hung from the handle, with the point downwards, till it is nearly, but not quite dry. ”

“ We fly to the Umbrella when the sky is overcast—it affords us shelter in the hour of need—and the service is forgotten as soon as the necessity is relieved. We make abominable jokes upon the Umbrella; we borrow it without compunction from any confiding friend, though with the full intention of never returning it—in fact, it has often been a matter of surprise to us that any one ever does buy an Umbrella, for where can the old Umbrellas go to? ”

“ Kersey's Dictionary (1708) describes an Umbrella as a "screen commonly used by women to keep off rain."
The absence of almost all allusion to the Umbrella by the wits of the seventeenth century, while the muff, fan, &c., receive so large a share of attention, is a further proof that it was far from being recognised as an article of convenient luxury at that day. ”

“ That the use of the Umbrella was considered far too effeminate for man, is seen from the following advertisement from the Female Tatler for December 12th, 1709:—"The young gentleman borrowing the Umbrella belonging to Wills' Coffee-house, in Cornhill, of the mistress, is hereby advertised, that to be dry from head to foot on the like occasion, he shall be welcome to the maid's pattens." ”

“ The earliest English Umbrellas, we must also remember, were made of oiled silk, very clumsy and difficult to open when wet; the stick and furniture were heavy and inconvenient, and the article very expensive.
At the end of the century allusions to the Umbrella are not infrequent. Cowper, in his "Task" (1780) , twice mentions it, but seems to mean a Parasol:—
"We bear our shades about us; self-deprived Of other screen, the thin umbrella spread, And range an Indian waste without a tree." ”

“ A waterproof sun umbrella, with a jointed handle about six feet long terminating in a point, would be a decided help to the scientist at work in the field. A fine-meshed net fitting around the edge of the umbrella would make it insect proof. ”

“ A green silk umbrella will soon be spoiled by the rain, and none look so badly in a short time. We have known a lady’s bonnet entirely ruined by the drippings from a green parasol, hastily put up as a small screen from a sudden shower. No colour stands the sun and damp so badly as green. ”

“ The invention is described in the following words :—
"There is a ball and socket of steel or iron, or any other metal or composition. The ball moves in any direction, and is fixed by one, two, three, or more points, which are forced against it either by a screw or spring, The ball is made with small cavities to receive the points which press against it. In order to secure it the more effectually in the ball, there is a hole which receives the one end of the staff of the umbrella, which is secured in it either by a spring or screw, or a sliding or a spring bolt. ”