Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 229 

 PARSLEY FAMILY (Umbeliferae). 



A large family of herbs, usually with hollow stems, 

 tiny, .perfect or polygamous flowers in umbels or flat- 

 topped clusters and with deeply-cut, compound leaves. 



WATER PARSNIP (Slum cicutaefolium) is a stout 

 branching herb growing in shallow water. The rather 

 weak stem is from 2 to 6 feet high. The alternating, 

 compound leaves are very variable, but usually of 

 from seven to fifteen, sharply-toothed, linear or lance- 

 shaped leaflets. Flat, dome-shaped clusters, or um- 

 bels, of tiny white flowers terminate the upper 

 branches. This species is very abundant throughout 

 the country. 



EARLY MEADOW PARSNIP (Zizia aurea) is a 

 common roadside weed, or found along the borders 

 of woods, swamps or meadows. Its rather weak ap- 

 pearing stems surprise us with their power of re- 

 sisting when we try to break them. The leaves are 

 divided into three parts, containing five or seven, lan- 

 ceolate, toothed leaflets, each. The tiny golden-yel- 

 low flowers are arranged in terminal heads consist- 

 ing of numerous wide-spread, little umbels. 



WILD CARROT; BIRD'S NEST; QUEEN ANNE'S 

 LACE (Daucus Carota) (EUROPEAN). While to 

 flower lovers, this may appear to be the most beauti- 

 ful species of the family, it is the most heartily de- 

 tested weed with which the farmer has to contend. 

 It is very prolific, and each individual plant strikes 

 its roots deep into the ground, as though determined 

 to defy extermination. It is a very near relative to, 

 and by some supposed to be, the species from which 

 our cultivated carrots descended. The fully opened 

 flower clusters have an exquisite, lace-like appear- 

 ance, while those half-opened are hollowed sugges- 

 tively like a bird's nest; in the center of the cluster, 

 is a tiny purple floret, all the others being white. 



