17G DICOTYLEDONS SOLANACE^E DIAGRAM 13. 



The carrot grows in Britain in a wild state, but tlie root is not 

 so large nor red as it becomes when cultivated. The leaves of 

 the carrot are compound, with a great many divisions. The stem 

 of the carrot, like that of most other umbelliferze, dies every year 

 when the seeds are ripe ; bnt the root still lives, and throws np 

 a new stalk in the following year. Each fruit, as in all umbelli- 

 fera, contains two seeds ; those of the anise and caraway are very 

 aromatic, whereas, in the parsley, chervil, and angelica, it is the 

 leaves and stalks which are valued for their flavour. 



Poisonous umbellifera? may generally be known by the disagree- 

 able smell which is perceived on rubbing one of their leaves in the 

 hands. The hemlock is a large plant with reddish spots on the 

 stem. The fool's parsley is much commoner, and care must be 

 taken not to mistake it for the real parsley. It may always be 

 known by the shape of the leaf frill at the base of the last stalks 

 which support the flowers. This frill is composed of three leaves, 

 called bracts, as narrow as threads, which are drooping, and all 

 three placed together on the same side of the stalk. 



FAMILY SOLANACB^E. 



The family of the Solanacecu, like that of the Umbellifera?, 

 includes at once plants which are among the most useful to man, 

 as the egg-plant, the tobacco., the tomato- f the potato, and the 

 capsicum ; as well as the most poisonous plants, such as the night- 

 shade and the thorn-apple. It is true that some of these are of 

 great service in the hands of physicians, and then become useful 

 plants. The Solanacea? sometimes grow to small trees. Their 

 flowers differ considerably from that of the potato, which is wheel - 

 shaped, to that of tobacco) which is bell-shaped. But the calyx is 



