GENUS 3. 



CARROT FAMILY. 



625 



3. DAUCUS [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI 242. 1753. 



Biennial or annual, mostly hispid-pubescent herbs, with pinnately decompound finely 

 divided leaves, and compound umbels of white or reddish flowers. Involucre of several 

 foliaceous pinnately parted bracts in our species. Involucels of numerous entire or toothed 

 bracts. Calyx-teeth obsolete. Petals obovate, the apex inflexed, those of the outer flowers 

 often dilated and 2-lobed. Stylopodium depressed or none. Umbels very concave in fruit 

 Fruit oblong, somewhat flattened dorsally. Primary ribs 5, slender, bristly. Secondary 

 ribs 4, winged, each bearing a row of barbed prickles. Oil-tubes solitary under the secondary 

 ribs, and 2 on the commissural side of each carpel. [The ancient Greek name.] 



About 25 species, of wide geographic distribution. Type species : Daucus Carota L, 



i. Daucus Carota L. Wild Carrot. Fig. 3104. 



Daucus Carota L. Sp. PI. 242. 1753. 



Bristly-hispid, usually biennial, 

 erect, i-3 high, the root fleshy, 

 deep, conic. Lower and basal 

 leaves 2-3-pinnate, the segments 

 lanceolate, dentate, lobed or pin- 

 natifid; upper leaves smaller, less 

 divided ; bracts of the involucre 

 parted into linear or filiform 

 lobes; umbels 2'-^ broad; rays 

 numerous, crowded, \'-2 r long, 

 the inner ones shorter than the 

 outer; pedicels very slender, i"- 

 2" long in fruit; flowers white, 

 the central one of each umbel 

 often purple, that of each umbel- 

 let occasionally so, all rarely pink- 

 ish; fruit 1 2 "-2" long, bristly on 

 the winged ribs. 



In fields and waste places, very common nearly throughout our area, often a pernicious weed. 

 Naturalized from Europe, and native also of Asia. The original of the cultivated carrot. Bird's- or 

 crow's-nest. Queen Anne's-lace. Bird's-nest-plant. Lace-flower. Parsnip. Devil's-plague. Rantipole. 

 June-Sept. 



Daucus pusillus Michx., American carrot, of the Southern and Western States, has the stem 

 retrorsely hispid, and linear leaf-segments; it. enters our area in Kansas and Missouri. 



4. TORILIS Adans. Fam. PI. 2 : 99, 612. 1763. 



Annual, hispid or pubescent herbs, with pinnately decompound leaves, and compound 

 umbels of white flowers. Calyx-teeth triangular, acute. Bracts of the involucre few and 

 small or none. Involucels of several or numerous narrow bracts. Petals cuneate or obovate 

 with an inflexed point, mostly 2-lobed. Stylopodium thick, conic. Fruit ovoid or oblong, 

 laterally flattened. Primary ribs 5, filiform. Secondary ribs 4, winged, each bearing a row 

 of barbed or hooked bristles or tubercles. Oil-tubes solitary under the secondary ribs, 2 on 

 the commissural side. [Significance of the name unknown.] 



About 20 species, natives of the northern hemisphere. Besides the following introduced ones, 

 a native species occurs in western North America. Type species: Tordylium Anthriscus L. The 

 generic name Caucalis L., used for these plants in our first edition, is now restricted to different 

 Old World species. C. latifolia L. has been found on ballast grounds at Philadelphia. 



Umbels sessile or short-stalked, capitate, opposite the leaves. i. C. nodosa. 



Umbels compound, long-peduncled ; rays slender. 2. C. Anthriscus. 



40 



