WILD FLOWERS WHITE AND GREENISH 



Utah and California, and probably in Washing- 

 ton. 



WILD CARROT. BIRD'S NEST. QUEEN 

 ANNE'S LACE 



Daucus Carota. Carrot Family. 



Tirades of abuse and condemnation have been 

 heaped upon the Wild Carrot by farmers whose fields 

 and pastures have been overrun by this prolific immi- 

 grant from Europe and Asia. It is doubtful, how- 

 ever, if the farmer knows, or even whether he cares, 

 that this species is said to be the original of the very 

 carrot that he regularly cultivates. Scrapings from 

 the strongly scented roots have been applied as a local 

 stimulant for wounds. The round, slender, hairy, 

 biennial stalk grows erect from one to three feet from 

 a deep, conical root. It is a light green in colour, and 

 very finely ribbed. The lower leaves are exceedingly 

 fringy, being very much cut and divided, and the 

 upper ones less so. Their surface is rough, and the 

 colour is yellowish green. The foliage is sparse and 

 occurs at distant intervals. The tiny, white, usually 

 five-parted flowers have minute, yellow-tipped stamens, 

 and are densely clustered in many small, flat wheels 

 that are again grouped in a symmetric, flat-topped disk. 

 The central flower of each disk is often dark or purp- 

 lish, and occasionally all of the flowers have a delicate 

 purplish tinge. The outer florets are largest. The 

 flowers are set on slender stems that radiate from a 

 common centre, and about which is set a whorl of 



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