CAR 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



CAR 



261 



segments black, and five black lines running down the co- 

 rolla. It grows naturally in the south of France, Spain, and 

 Italy, where the women use the stalks for distaffs, whence it 

 derived the title of Distaff Thistle ; some call it Bastard Wild 

 Saffron. The leaves are rather bitter, and are sometimes 

 prescribed as a medicine, and are supposed to have the same 

 virtues as Carduus Benedictus. It flowers in June and July, 

 and ripens seed in autumn. If the seeds be sown in autumn, 

 the plants will flower early the following summer, so that 

 there will be a certainty of good seeds : they may be sown in 

 any situation, and require no other culture but weeding and 

 thinning when too close together. There is a variety of 

 this species, which grows much taller ; the heads also are 

 larger, and the leaves are placed closer upon the stalks. It 

 was found by Tournefort in the Levant. 



3. Carthamus Creticus ; Cretan Carthamus. Stem some- 

 what glossy ; calices a little woolly ; floscules about nine ; 

 lower leaves lyrate. This is an annual plant, growing nearly 

 four feet high ; it differs from the foregoing in having a 

 smooth stalk : the leaves are very stiff, deeply indented, 

 smooth, and armed with very strong spines ; the heads of 

 flowers are oval, and the florets white. Discovered in Candia 

 by Tournefort. Cultivated in the same manner as the pre- 

 ceding species ; which see. 



4. Carthamus Tingitanus ; Tangier Carthamus. Radical 

 leaves pinnate ; stem-leaves pinnatifid ; stem one-flowered. 

 This species has a perennial root ; the stalks rise about a 

 foot and a half high, seldom putting out any branches ; the 

 stalk is terminated by one large scaly head of blue flowers. 

 It is a native of Barbary, and was brought from Tangier : 

 it is increased by parting the roots, the best time for which 

 is in the beginning of March ; it should have a dry soil and a 

 warm situation, otherwise it will be liable to be destroyed in 

 severe winters. 



5. Carthamus Coeruleus ; Blue-Jlowered Carthamus, or 

 Bastard Saffron. Leaves lanceolate, spiny, toothed ; stem 

 one or two flowered. This rises with a single stalk about 

 two feet high, of a purplish colour, hairy, and channelled, 

 closely beset with broad spear-shaped leaves, sharply serrate, 

 and covered with a short hairy down ; flowers blue ; outer 

 calix-scales broad, long, with a sharp spine on their edges ; 

 inner ones narrow, terminated with a sharp thorn : it flowers 

 in June and July, and the seeds ripen in autumn. It grows 

 naturally in Spain, France, and Italy, on arable land. It may 

 be increased by parting the roots in autumn when the leaves 

 decay : in a light soil it will survive the cold of our winters, 

 and last many years ; it may also be propagated by seed. 



6. Carthamus Mitissimus ; Small Carthamus. Leaves 

 unarmed, those next the root toothed, on the stem pinnate. 

 Root-leaves, some lanceolate, dilated at the end, and very 

 smooth, from the middle to the end toothed, the teeth turned 

 upwards, sharp, ending in a small thorn, others pinnatifid ; 

 flower bright, blue. Found about Paris and Montpellier. 



7. Carthamus Carduncellus ; Mountain Carthamus. Stem- 

 leaves linear, pinnate, the length of the plant ; root perennial ; 

 stem, in gardens, about six inches high, channelled and hairy; 

 each stalk is terminated by one large head of blue flowers. 

 Native of the south of France, Spain, and Italy. The root is 

 eaten in Africa. It is difficult to propagate this species in 

 England, the roots not putting out offsets, and the seeds 

 ripening only in warm dry seasons ; it requires a dry soil 

 and warm situation. 



8. Carthamus Arborescens ; Tree Carthamux. Leaves 

 ensiform, sinuate-toothed. The whole plant is pubescent; 

 stem firm, the height of a man, evergreen ; leaves a foot 

 long, pinnatifid-sinuate, toothed, mostly spinous at the end ; 



VOL. i. 22. 



flowers terminal, sessile, yellow, sweet-smelling; down hairy. 

 Native of Andalusia. It is increased by the side-shooti 

 slipped from the branches in the spring, and planted in pots 

 filled with light sandy earth, which are to be plunged into a 

 moderate hot-bed, observing to shade them till they have 

 taken root ; they then must be gradually hardened, and 

 removed into the open air, and when they have acquired 

 strength, some may be planted in a warm dry border, where 

 they will endure the cold of our ordinary winters. 



9. Carthamus Salicifolius ; Willow-leaved Carthamus. 

 Shrubby : petioles spiny ; leaves lanceolate, entire, tomen- 

 tose beneath, pungent at the end ; branches one-flowered ; 

 florets white. Native of Madeira. 



10. Carthamus Corymbosus ; Corymbed Carthamus. Flow- 

 ers corymbed, numerous. Root perennial ; stem single, 

 white, smooth, and channelled, never putting out any side- 

 branches ; leaves long, narrow, pale green, closely armed on 

 their edges with short stiff spines, which come out double ; 

 steins terminated by single, oval, scaly heads of white flowers, 

 each scale ending with a purplish spike. Native of Apulia, 

 the Hellespont, Lemnos, and Thrace. It seldom perfects 

 seeds in England, and is increased by parting the roots in the 

 spring ; and in a light soil and warm situation it will endure 

 common winters in the open air, but in severe frost it is some- 

 times destroyed. 



Carum; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: umbel universal long; 

 rays ten, frequently unequal ; umbel partial, crowded ; invo- 

 lucre universal, often monophyllous ; partial none ; perianth 

 scarcely manifest. Corolla: universal uniform; florets of 

 the disk abortive ; proper unequal ; petals five, unequal, ob- 

 tuse, carinated, inflex-emarginate. Stamina : filamenta five, 

 capillary, length of the corolla, caducous ; antherae round- 

 ish, very small. Pistil: germen inferior; styles two, very 

 small ; stigmas simple. Pericarp : none ; fruit ovate-ob- 

 long, striated, bipartite. Seeds: two, convex on one side, 

 ovate-oblong, striated, flat on the other side. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Fruit: ovate-oblong, striated. Involucre: one- 

 leafed. Petals: keeled, inflex-emarginate. The only 



known species is, 



1. Carum Carui ; Common Caraway. It is a biennial 

 plant, has a taper root like a Parsnip, but much smaller, 

 running deep into the ground, sending out many small fibres, 

 and having a strong aromatic taste. It grows naturally in 

 rich meadows, in Lincolnshire, in Yorkshire near Hull, in 

 Norfolk, near Cambridge, Bury, &c. and is cultivated in 

 some counties, particularly in Essex : it flowers in May and 

 June, and the seeds ripen in autumn. Parkinson says, the 

 young roots are better eating than Parsnips : the tender 

 leaves in the spring are boiled in soup. The seeds, it is well 

 known, are much used in cakes, and incrusted with sugar for 

 comfits ; they are also distilled with spirituous liquors for 

 their flavour : they were formerly recommended by Dios- 

 corides for pale-faced girls ; and it is said, that modern ladies 

 have not despised his recommendation : they are a good 

 remedy in tertian agues, and abound with an essential oil 

 which is antispasmodic and carminative. Lewis says, that 

 about one ounce in thirty of essential oil arises from the seeds 

 in distillation : this oil is of a bright yellow colour, hotter, 

 and more pungent to the taste, than what is obtained from 

 most other warm seeds, and is given from one to five drops 

 as a carminative, and is supposed to be of peculiar efficacy 

 in promoting urine : the herb affords a similar oil, but six- 

 teen pounds of it, stripped from the stalks, scarcely yield 

 an ounce. The seeds are the part commonly employed ia 

 medicine ; they are of an agreeable aromatic smell, and a 

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