CAR 



CAR 



their edges : the stalk rises about two feet high, 

 covered with hairs, and garnished with oblong 

 hairy leaves, which embrace it, and are deeply 

 sinuated, with sharp thorns growing on their 

 edges; the upper part divides into many 

 branches, which have leaves of the same form, 

 bur smaller : the flowers are produced at the end 

 of the branches, having a cluster of stiff, hard, 

 prickly leaves below the scaly calyx, which con- 

 tains many yellow florets, succeeded by oblong- 

 angular seeds. It flowers in June and July, and 

 is a native of the South of France, &c. 



The second species 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 : the stalk is terminated by a 

 single large head of blue flowers, having a scaly 

 calyx composed of two orders of leaves; the 

 outer broad, long, and armed with sharp spines 

 on their edges ; the inner narrow, and termi- 

 nated by a sharp thorn. It flowers in June and 

 July, and grows naturally in Spain, Sec. 



The third has a perennial root : the stalk 

 rises about a foot and a half high, seldom 



fiutting out any branches ; the leaves the whole 

 ength of the stalk are narrow, spear-shaped, 

 deeply serrate, each of the serratures ending in 

 a sharp point; those next the root being entirely 

 pinnate, but the stem-leaves pinnatifid: the 

 stalk is terminated by one large scaly head of 

 blue flowers. It is a native of Barbary. 



In the fourth species the whole plant is pu- 

 bescent ; the stem firm, from eight to ten feet in 

 height,and evergreen : the leaves are stem-clasp- 

 ing, ensiform or lanceolate, a foot long, pinna- 

 tifid-sinuate, toothed, mostly spinous at the end, 

 with a white rib : the flower is terminal, one or 

 two, sessile, yellow, and sweet-smelling. It is 

 a native of Andalusia. 



Culture. — The first sort may be increased by 

 sowing the seeds in the autumn in any open 

 situation; these plants require no further cul- 

 ture but to keep them clean from weeds, and 

 sufficiently thin- 



The second and third sorts may be propagated 

 by parting the roots, which for the former should 

 be performed in autumn, when the leaves decay. 

 In a light soil it endures the cold of our winters, 

 and continues many years : it may also be raised 

 from seeds, as in the first, which ripen in this 

 climate in dry seasons. For the latter, the best 

 time is about the beginning of March. It should 

 have a dry soil and a warm situation, other- 

 wise it is very liable to be destroyed in severe 

 winters. 



The last sort, as it does not ripen seeds in this 

 climate,, is only capable of being increased by 



side-shoots slipped from the branches in ths 

 spring, and planted in pots filled with light 

 sandy earth, plunging then) into a moderate 

 hotbed, and shading them till they have taken 

 root ; they should then be gradually hardened, 

 and removed into the open air, and when suf- 

 ficiently strong, some planted in a warm dry 

 border, and others in pots, to be sheltered in 

 winter from frost. 



These plants have a good effect in mixture 

 with others of the flower kind mi borders and 

 clumps. 



CARUI. SeeCARUM. 



CARUM, a genus containing a plant of the 

 biennial herbaceous aromatic kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentandria 

 Digynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Umbellate* 1 . 



The characters are : that the calyx is an univer- 

 sal long umbel : rays ten, frequently unequal : 

 umbel partial crowded: involucre universal, 

 often monophyllous ; partial none: the perianth 

 scarcely manifest : the corolla is universal uni- 

 form: the florets of the disk abortive: proper 

 unequal : petals five, unequal, obtuse, carinated, 

 inflex-emarginate : the stamina consist of five 

 capillary filaments, the length of the corolla, ca- 

 ducous : the anthers roundish and very small ; 

 the pistillum is an inferior germ : styles two, 

 very small : the stigma simple : there is no pe- 

 ricarpium : the fruit ovate-oblong, striated, bi- 

 partite: seeds two, convex on one side, and 

 ovate-oblong, striated, flat on the other. 



The only species is C. Carta, Common 

 Caraway. 



It is a biennial plant, which has a taper root 

 like a parsnep, but much smaller, running deep 

 into the ground, sending out many small fibres, 

 and having a strong aromatic taste. The whole 

 plant is smooth ; the stems are solid, channelled, 

 from eighteen inches to two feet and upwards in 

 height, with spreading branches : the leaves de- 

 compound, long and narrow, on long petioles > 

 leaflets in sixes, in a sort of whorl, two of them 

 longer; segments terminating in a reddish semi- 

 transparent substauce. The flowers are in. um- 

 bels, and of a white colour. 



It grows naturally in this country, and flowers 

 in May and June. 



The young roots are sometimes e.iten as 

 parsneps, and the tender leaves boiled in soup. 

 The seeds are well known to be used in cakes-, 

 and incrus ted. with sugar for comfits, 



Culture. — It is increased by. sowing the seeds 

 in the autumn, either on the surface or in nar- 

 row drills, raking them in. When the plants 

 appear they should be thinned out to six or 

 seven inches, and kept perfectly free from 



