280 UMBELLIFERiE. Daucus. 



Tribe VII. DAUCINEJE. DC. 



Fruit lenticularly compressed on the hack, or somewhat terete. Carpels with five filiform 

 bristly primary ribs, of which the lateral ones are placed on the fiat commissure ; and 

 four more prominent prickly secondary ones, the prickles distinct or united into a wing. 

 Seed fiattened or convex on the back, fiattish on the face. — Umbels compound. 



17. DAUCUS. Tourn. ; Linn. ; Endl. gen. 4497. CARROT. 



[DavJcos is the ancient Greek name of the Carrot.] 



Margin of the calyx 5-toothed. Petals obovate, emarginate, with an inflexed point ; the 

 exterior ones often larger than the others, and deeply 2-cleft. Fruit somewhat dorsally 

 compressed, OTate or oblong. Carpels with 5 primary filiform bristly ribs, of which 3 

 are on the back and 2 on the flat commissure : secondary ribs 4, equal, more prominent, 

 winged, divided into a single row of prickles. Intervals with single vittae under the se- 

 condary ridges. — Mostly perennial herbs. Leaves 2 - 3-pinnately divided. Involucre of 

 several trifid or pinnatifid leaflets. Flowers white or yellow ; the central one often fleshy 

 and sterile. 



1. Daucus Carota, Linn. Comtnon, or Wild Carrot. 



Stem hispid ; leaves 2 - 3-pinnatifid, segments pinnatifid, ultimate lobes lanceolate and 

 cuspidate ; leaflets of the involucre pinnatifid, nearly the length of the umbel ; prickles about 

 equal to the diameter of the oblong-ovoid fruit {DC). — Linn. sp. I. p. 242 ; Engl bot. t. 1 174; 

 Pursh, fi. 1. p. 191 ; Torr. fi. 1. p. 308 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 109 ; DC. prodr. 4. p. 211 ; 

 Beck, bot. p. 149; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 197; Torr. ^ Gr. fl. N. Am. 1. p. 635. 



Root fusiform, yellowish, biennial. Stem about 2 feet high, branching. Leaves hispidly 

 pubescent. Umbels with very numerous rays, which are turned inwards after flowering. 

 Flowers white, or sometimes cream-colored ; a solitary central one of each umbellet sometimes 

 abortive and colored. Primary ribs of the carpels very slender, ciliate ; secondary ones much 

 stronger, cut into slender prickles. 



Fields, road-sides, etc. ; very common. Of European origin, and now generally naturalized 

 in the United States. In a cultivated state, the Carrot is well known as a culinary vegetable. 

 The root is frequently used as an antiseptic poultice, and the seeds as a carminative ; but the 

 plant is probably of little use in calculous afiections. 



