WILD CARROT 



Pistil.— Ovsivy two-celled; styles two. 



Fruit.— Dry, short, two carpels which cohere, but split 

 apart when ripe; prickles in rows on the ribs. 



Two herbs, w^eeds by every count, without one 

 redeeming trait from the farmer's standpoint, with 

 not one justification when brought into court, drift, 

 a midsummer dream of white beauty, over fields and 

 meadows. The Ox-eye Daisy is the earlier of the 

 two; it comes with the Clovers and the Buttercups. 

 The bloom of the Wild Carrot sweeps over the fields 

 in early August. 



The many tiny florets of the Carrot umbel are dis- 

 posed in a radiating pattern as fine as lace; in the 

 centre of the cluster is one deep maroon floret, a single 

 point of color surrounded by whiteness. The umbel 

 from its first showing of white is a full week coming 

 to maturity; as the florets open it is concave, in its 

 prime more or less convex; fading, it becomes concave 

 agam, and finally the ripening seeds are protected by 

 unfolding arms that make indeed a Bird's-Nest, which 

 IS one of the country names for the plant. 



The slender, hairy, biennial stalk grows erect one 

 to three feet from a deep-rooted, conical tap-root. Be- 

 cause of this root and its unmistakable Carrot flavor 

 the plant is very generally beheved to be the primi- 

 tive of our Garden Carrot. Whatever it may have 

 been or may be capable of being, at the present time 

 It IS a pestiferous weed and will take defiant possession 

 of great tracts, but as it is a biennial it can easily be 

 extirpated. Not to do this is a reflection upon the 

 farmer. 



141 



