DAUCUS 



CRIMINAL USES CAROTA 



Carrot 



i writers than var. alba above. It is described as the t 

 of the Panjab and the kachola of Afghanistan. Lawrence (Valley of 

 mir, 1895, 77) mentions that Kashmir exports the seeds largely to 

 tin- I'anjiib and that they fetch Rs. 5 a maund. The var. I'ntnla appears 

 to IK- th.- plant of which the dried fruits (strung on thread) are sometimes 

 imported into India from Persia. These imported fruits are sold under 

 in.- t/harhhuli iu Bombay and maratia mughu in Madras. Poisoning 

 irom rat ing taluleh is recorded in the Kew Bulletin (1889, 276-8 ; 1896, 233). 



Tin- MEDICINAL uses of the species of Datura- centre chiefly in Medicine. 

 their poisonous property and in the pernicious and criminal advantage 

 often taken of these all too prevalent plants. Barry points out that 

 tin- seeds of Datura may be mistaken for those of ('n/t*irnin. 

 Reduced to a powder they are criminally mixed with food and can often Detection, 

 only be detected through the microscopic structure of the fragments of 

 the seed-coat that may be discovered in the food or the contents of the 



ach. 



[('/. Garcia de Orta, 1563, Coll., xx. ; Acosta, Tract, de las Drogaa, 1578. 87 ; 

 ischoten, Voy. E. Ind., 1698, i., 210-1 ; Pyrard, Voy. E. Ind. (ed. Hakl. 

 ic.), ii., 113-4; Herbert, Travels, 1677, 337; Fryer, New Ace. E. Ind. and Per a., 

 :2 ; Rheede, Hort. Mai., 1679, ii., 47-52, tt. 28, 29, 30 ; Rumphius, 

 lerb. Amb., 1750, v., 246-52, t. 87 ; Ainslie, Mat. Med. Hind., 1813, 47 ; Chevers, 

 fan. Ind. Journ., 1870, 179 seq. ; Rept. Ind. Hemp Drugs Comm., 1894, i., 172 ; 

 Int. and Colon. Drugg., 1898, xxxiii., 769; Dunstan, Trans. Chem. Soc., 1901, 

 :xix., 71-4; Bedford, Ind. Med. Qaz., 1902, xxxvii., 206-10; Mehta, Ind. 

 ted. Qaz., 1904, 20 ; Collis Barry, Legal Med. Ind., 1903, 473-4 ; White and 

 lumphrey, Pharmacop., 1901, 470 ; Ann. Repts. Chem. Exam., 1897-1905.] 



DAUCUS CAROTA, Linn. ; II Br. Ind., ii., 718 ; Roxb., Fl. D.E.P., 

 Ind., ii., 90; Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind., ii., 107; Prain, Beng. Plants, i., 540; "i-. 43-52. 

 Duthie, Fl. Upper Gang. Plain, 398 ; UMBELLIFER^E. The Carrot, gdger, Carrot - 

 mormujh, kdch, zdrdak, manjal-mulldngi, Jcdrttu-lcizhangu, pita-kanda, etc. 



Habitat. A native of Kashmir and the Western Himalaya at altitudes of from Distribution. 

 5,000 to 9,000 feet. It is also commonly held to be a native of Europe (except 

 le extreme north), of Abyssinia and North Africa, of Madeira and the Azores, 

 and of North Asia eastwards to Siberia and Kamschatka. Throughout India it 

 is cultivated by the Europeans, mostly from annually imported seed, and by 

 the Natives from an acclimatised if not indigenous stock. In many parts of the Indian Form, 

 country a greenish-white carrot is preferred as being very hardy and productive. 

 This rises some two or three inches above the soil, is a coarse root which possesses 

 little of the flavour of the European carrot, but is able to withstand the extreme 

 heat of summer, and may be raised in some parts of the country throughout the 

 year. It thus produces a return at seasons when other tubers or roots are scarce 

 or not available. This is particularly the case in Bihar (Patna) and some parts 

 of the United Provinces. 



History. Sir George Birdwood (Memo. Carrot for Famine Relief in N. Ind., History. 

 1896) gives a detailed and learned account of the history of this plant. This 

 occupies many pages, and can hardly be abbreviated without greatly lessening 

 its value. The carrot appears to have been regularly used in India from fairly 

 ancient times. The Emperor Baber (Memoirs, 1519 (Leyden and Erskine, transl. ), 

 1826, 347) narrates his having eaten a dish of fried carrots. In the Ain-i-Akbari 

 (Blochmann, transl., 63-4, 67) mention is made of " wild carrots " (shaqaqul) 

 and of cultivated carrots. Terry (Voy. E. Ind., 1655 (ed. 1777), 91-2) speaks of 

 the good carrots of Surat, and Fryer (New ACC. E. Ind. and Pers., 1672-81, 119) 

 makes special mention of those of the Deccan. While much reliance cannot be 

 placed on names of plants as historic evidences, it is significant that throughout 

 the languages of India, indeed from Central Asia to Cape Comorin, there should 

 prevail in every language a name for the carrot (gdger, gdjar, gdzara. garjara, etc.) 

 which seems to have come from a common source. To that name is frequently 

 added a further word meaning "root" or "tuber." Thus in Tamil it is the 



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