1919] Robinson,— An unusual Daucus Carota 71 
having the customary white, merely pale-roseate or occasionally very 
light yellow petals, has them prevailingly of the rich deep violet 
(making the impression almost of black) which is familiar in dark 
central flower commonly present. Miss Fletcher states that the plant 
was found by Miss Harriet M. Hodgman, at Westford, Massachu- 
setts, August, 1918, on the land of Mr. Charles O. Prescot. 
Reference to the readily available literature on teratology brought 
out the fact that Penzig, Pflanzen-Teratol. i. 523 (1890), reports 
having observed not rarely individuals of Daucus Carota in which the 
single apical dark flower was replaced by a terminal umbellet of which 
most or all of the flowers were dark. Pluskal, Oester. Bot. Zeitschr. 
i. 228 (1851), discussing earlier the same phenomenon, mentions the 
fact that he had a Carrot umbel in which most of the flowers in one 
of the peripheral umbellets had the same dark brown color. This he 
stated to be a great rarity. 
Kronfeld, who applied the name “anthocyanic flowers” (Antho- 
kyanblüthen) to these dark-petaled structures, discussed them briefly, 
Bot. Centralbl. xlix. 11 (1892), stating that the central one is not 
sterile as often supposed but cleistogamous and fertile. He also 
suggests that these dark flowers are the result of inherited gall-forma- 
tion. The literature of the subject seems rather slight and unsatis- 
factory. 
In the plant from Westford about 12 of the umbellets constituting 
between a third and a half of the whole inflorescence are dark-petaled. 
These occur on one side of the compound umbel, being disposed from 
near the center to the periphery. They do not take the place of the 
apical dark flower for that is present as usual. In some of these dark- 
flowered umbellets all the petals are of uniform dark rich violet, in 
others the greater part of them are dark, but some even in the same 
flowers are white or deep purple striped with white. Except for their 
unusual color the flowers appear to be normal. 
The inflorescence at first sight suggests that it must have been 
affected by some smut or other such influence but this does not appear 
to have been the case. 
The striking and interesting specimen here described will be pre- 
served in Miss Fletcher's herbarium. A photograph of it has been 
taken for record in the Gray Herbarium.— B. L. ROBINSON. 
