Parsley and Carrot 169 
tions as to the stages by which such _ beautifully 
complex leaves as Chervil, Parsley, Carrot, etc., have 
been developed. 
Many of the family have interesting associations 
as the originals whence some of our table vegetables 
have been evolved by the market gardener; others 
have been long famed for their medicinal and aro- 
matic qualities. Hemlock, the State poison of 
Athens, by which Socrates is believed to have met 
his death, is produced by our native Coniwm 
maculatum. Other highly poisonous natives in this 
family are the Wild Celery (Apium gruveolens), 
Water Hemlock (Cicuta virosa), Water Dropwort 
(Ginanthe crocata). Cultivated Celery is earthed up 
not merely to increase the size of the leaf-stalks and 
make them white, but because the absence of light 
prevents the development of the poisonous principle. 
Although it has been stated that Parsley (Carum 
petroselinum) is a native of Sardinia, whence it was 
introduced in 1548, Sir J. D. Hooker is of opinion that 
its native place is unknown, and that wherever it is 
now found growing wild it is merely an escape from 
cultivation. The Parsnip (Peucedanum sativum), 
on the contrary, is a true native of England, and has 
been cultivated from Roman times. In the wild plant 
the root is small and hard, but by cultivation it has 
been enormously increased in size, and with the 
enlargement has come a more succulent texture. 
Much the same may be said respecting the Carrot 
(Daucus carota). The wild plant produces a large 
rosette of really beautiful leaves from a rootstock 
that is little suggestive of edible qualities; we must 
suppose that when its virtues were first discovered 
