44 I'l.owi'.Rs oi' rm-, iii.i.ns and mkadows 



Wild Carrot (I).uiclis Carola, I,.) 



So far tlic-rc lia\e Ijccii no traces <it the Wild Carrot found in 

 early deposits. In the North Teni|)cratc Zone it is fountl in Europe, 

 \. .Africa, X. Asia, as far east as India. It has been introduced into 

 .\ .\nicrica. Though common, it is not known in .\. Perth, Banfi", 

 Main Argyll, 11. Sutherland, the Orkneys. 



The Wild Carrol is a common meadow species t^Towini;' in fields 

 antl meadows, or upland pastin-es on dr\' soils. The railway banks 

 ha\-e now become a permanent habitat for it in man\- places. On 

 risiiiL^- oround it is especiallv conimon. and on hillsides amongst such 

 plants as Great Burnet. Devil's liit .Scabious, 0.\-eye Daisy, Knap- 

 weed, Goats Heard, i^c. It is also frequendy to be seen by the 

 wayside. 



Fairlv tall, erect, rigid, with a stiff wiry stem, sparingly branched, 

 clothed with bristles, and striated. Wild Carrot is distinguished by its 

 foliage apart from its curiously nest-like umbels of flowers. The radical 

 leaves are oblong with lanceolate leaflets with lobes on each side of 

 the common stalk. The upper leaves are more triangular and larger, 

 with sheathing leaf-stalks, thrice branched. 



At first the umbel of flowers is cup-shaped or hollow, and this with 

 its numerous rays and small deeply divided bracts or leaflike organs 

 in the partial involucre or whorl of leaflike organs give it the appear- 

 ance of a bird's nest. 



There is a bright-red flower in the centre; the others white. The 

 fruit is bristh', bearing numerous hooked spines. The stem is usually 

 I ft. to 1 8 in. in height. Flowers are to be found in July and August. 

 The plant is a biennial, propagated by seeds. 



Compared with other umbellifers the flowers are large and con- 

 -spicuous in proportion to the size and height of the stem. The 

 umbels are white and pur[)le in the centre, and bear a row of ray 

 florets. The styles are erect, short, and thick. It is visited by 

 numerous insects, and cross-pollination is in this way ensured. 



Sixty-one insects have been noticed, 19 Diptera, 10 Coleoptera, 

 28 Hymenoptera, 2 Lepidoptera, 2 Hemiptera. 



The fruits are provided with hooks which catch in the wool ami 

 fur of passing animals, and it is therefore dispersed by animals. 



Wild Carrot is addicted to a sand soil and it is therefore a sand 

 plant. 



It is infested b\- the fungi Plasniopora iiivca, Plnviiis saiioitnto- 



