76 UMBELLIFER^ 



pink, but often having one peculiarity which renders the AVild Carrot's 

 blossom easy of recognition. The central flower of the umbel is of dark 

 purplish-red ; and though this often falls early, yet in the first stage of the 

 flower it is in most cases present. The umbel, when in fruit, is usually 

 remarkably concave, and naturally enough suggested one of the familiar 

 country names of the flower, Bird's-nest. A bird's-nest literally we know it 

 cannot be, yet it is often the nightly dormitory of a species of bee, that 

 folds its weary wings, and slumbers in the well-sheltered hollow afforded by 

 the long stalks of the umbel, which, especially in damp weather and during 

 night, coil inwards at the top, and Avould well exclude the shower or dews. 

 The root is pale yellow, and we have never seen it of the bright orange hue 

 of the garden Carrot, though its odour is so like that of the well-known 

 vegetable, as to leave no doubt of its affinity with it. Tough as this root is 

 in its wild state, it is by most botanists believed to be the origin of the culti- 

 vated Carrot ; and the latter may be cited as one of the many instances of 

 the singular improvement wrought by care and skill on a Avild and apparently 

 useless root. Miller and some other horticulturists, it is true, have planted 

 the Wild Carrot, and after taking much pains to change it into the esculent 

 root, have been unable to do so ; but, on the other hand. Professor Buckman 

 says he has had reports of success from friends who have experimented in 

 cultivating it. 



The Carrot is supposed to be the Staphylinos of Dioscorides, and, like other 

 plants named by the ancients, has been the subject of some learned discus- 

 sions. The description of the plant given by the Greek physician corresponds 

 in every respect with the Carrot, and he remarks that the root not only grew 

 wild, but was cultivated as an esculent. He describes it, too, as bearing 

 umbels of white flowers, which are in the middle of a purple-red, or almost 

 saff'ron-red colour. The Greeks call it also Dancus, and that earliest writer on 

 cookery, Apicius, terms the plant Carota, but many Avriters think that the 

 Pastinaca of the Greeks was the Carrot. It was from the ancient name of 

 Carota that the French Carrofte, the Italian Carota, and the English Carrot 

 were derived. The Spaniards call the plant Zanahoria ; the Dutch Peen ; 

 and Mohre is a common name for the plant in Germany. Beckmann is of 

 opinion that though the Greeks and Romans were certainly acquainted with 

 our Carrot, they used it far less, both in cookery and as fodder for cattle 

 than the moderns do, which would account for its not very frequent mention 

 in their works. 



We owe to the Flemings chiefly the use of the Carrot as an addition to 

 our vegetable diet, and in early periods they seem to have been among the 

 best of European horticulturists. When the tyranny of Philip II. drove 

 many of his subjects from their homes, in the time of our Queen Elizabeth, 

 a large number of the Flemish refugees came and resided in England. Some 

 of them finding the soil about Sandwich, in Kent, well suited for the growth 

 of the Carrot, soon cultivated the vegetable, which had been introduced a 

 few years earlier, and the new edible at once recommended itself by its 

 flavour and nutriment, and became a general plant of the kitchen-garden ; 

 while many varieties, produced by climate and culture, soon became well 

 known to gardeners. The long and horn Carrots, the two kinds generally 



