WEEDS OF THE PARSLEY FAMILY. 



101 



way seeds accompanies most of the fruits or mature seed pods. 

 Thirty-two species of the family are listed as growing wild in the 

 State, among them, besides the weeds below mentioned, being the 

 cowbane, button snake-root, black snake-root, sweet-cicely, hone- 

 wort, pennywort and that pretty little harbinger of spring, the 

 turkey-pea or pepper and salt. The button snake-root differs from 

 all the others in having the flowers clustered in dense bracted heads 

 and the leaves lily-like. It is frequent in the wet prairies of west- 

 ern Indiana. Among the cultivated members of the family are the 

 carrot, parsley, celery, parsnip, coriander, fennel and caraway. 



CS. DAUCUS CAROTA L. Wild Carrot. Queen Anne's Lace. Bird's, Nest 



Devil's Plague. (B. I. 1.) 



Erect, bristly, 1-3 feet high, from a deep, fleshy conical root; lower 

 and basal leaves 2 or 3 times divided, the smaller segments linear, toothed 

 or lobed ; upper leaves smaller, less divided. Blowers white, in com- 

 pound umbels, which in age turn inward, formirg a bird-nest-like cavity. 

 Fruit bristly on the winged ribs. Seeds brown, inch long, oval, prickly. 

 (Figs. 1, e\ 67.) 



A handsome but vile weed which during the past 20 years has 

 spread over most of Indiana. It occurs mainly along roadsides and 

 in old neglected fields and meadows, espe- 

 cially in poor, dry upland soil, and is much 

 more common in southern Indiana, where 

 such soil is prevalent, than in the northern 

 counties. June-Oct. It is the original 

 form of the cultivated carrot and is a na- 

 tive of both Europe and Asia. The central 

 flower of each umbel, and sometimes of 

 each umbellet or little umbel, is often 

 purple and the outer ones are sometimes 

 partly or wholly pinkish. In the evening 

 the flowers droop their heads and the 

 young clusters of buds look especially 

 weary, but in the morning all are standing 

 up stiffly as if they had never thought of 

 going to sleep. The seeds are very numerous, 50,000 having been 

 counted on a plant of average size, and they are widely distributed 

 by birds, railways, wind and water, so that if one slovenly 

 farmer in a neighborhood allows the plant to grow all his neigh- 

 bors will soon suffer for his neglect. Remedies: deep cutting with 

 hoe or spud before blossoming ; pulling when the ground is wet ; in- 

 creased fertilization ; repeated mowing while in blossom. If mown 



Fig. 67. Flower and fruit above. 

 (After Vasey.) 



