LECT. IV.] THE ROOT. 131 



be particularly well adapted for penetrating per- 

 pendicularly into the ground ; but that this is not 

 the sole intention of nature in giving it this form 

 would appear from the fact, that tihe direction of 

 some conical roots is horizontal ; as, for example, 

 the Blood Root, Sanguinaria Canademis*, a North 

 American plant, which is conical, truncated, and 

 horizontal ; the root forming a right angle nearly 

 with the stem. The roots of the Carrot, Daucus 

 carota; the Parsnip, Pastinaca sativa ; the Horse- 

 b. radish, Cochlearia Armor acia ; and the 

 Dandelion, Leontodon Taraxacum ; are 

 familiar examples of the conical root. The 

 following may be regarded as its vari- 

 eties. 



a. The Spindle-shaped root (Radix 

 fusiformls^c) (fig. b) differs from the real 

 conical root only, in not tapering equally 

 throughout its length, but swelling out 

 a little below its summit, like the spindle 

 or wooden pin employed by ancient ma- 

 trons in formmg the thread, which they 

 drew from the flax wrapped round the 

 distaff; whence its name. Like the pro- 

 per conical root, it is a reservoir of nu- 



* .Vegetable Mat. Med. of the United States, p. 31. 



f " Fusiformis quae oblonga, crassa, attenuata : ut Daucus, 

 " Pastinaca." Phil. Bot. 80. This is the definition rather of 

 the conical root than of the spindle-shaped. 



K 2 



